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Comment by jahnu | Hacker News Reader

We have free universal healthcare in Austria. And the state carries responsibility for problems as long as a vaccine has been officially approved. It was possible to get COVID vaccine before approval (off label it's called) but you assume responsibility.

Also mandatory vaccines are not new either

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20211029-why-mandatory-va...

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Well, people still have the ability to refuse at great costs to themselves and ultimately the state itself. I think the low level of protection and associated risks cannot establish enough room for a vaccination mandate. And that mandate is also again something different than a pass. I am vaccinated but I won't use a green pass. That shit won't ever go away again and we would see this every winter when the flu hits a bit harder.

Shouldn't the medical companies carry the responsibility?

For Austria they are completely new... And AFAIK there's no European country which requires all adults to get any vaccine, it's mostly kids and specific professions.

Not quite, smallpox vaccination was first enforced in 1939 (I know..) and then again post-WW2 in 1948. We do have a precendent!

But... If you vaccinate all kids, you've effectively vaccinated all future adults. As of today, most countries in the EU, including Austria, have their populations vaccinated against a bunch of things ( measles, tuberculosis, etc.) by mandates for child vaccination. Just because now it's to be done to adults doesn't change things much IMHO. If Covid stays with us, a vaccine against it will probably be administered to future children as a matter of policy like tuberculosis today.

For the most time we had vaccination quotas beyond 95% with voluntary vaccinations. Truth is, the performance of the current ones is mediocre at best as Covid already mutated. This isn't comparable with vaccines for a lot of other diseases aside maybe for the flu.

What brought us into this mess was idiots in charge and part of the population being exceptionally scared. We will continue this way and the situation won't improve until we are in a state like Sweden or Spain.

>If you vaccinate all kids, you've effectively vaccinated all future adults

Not when the COVID-19 vaccine lasts 8 months.

It will depend on the specific vaccine. The tetanus, diphtheria and another one last 10 years and are redone occasionally, so the same logic applies.

Only for the cases where vaccines are effective for life (tetanus is not, as an example).

And I don't think it is something to celebrate to force adults to live with the consequences of their parents decisions for life. I am not a parent, but would vaccinate my for all disease still endemic in my area. I would still worry that I might fuck them up permanently doing so.

> tetanus is not, as an example

And at least in some places, you have to redo a tetanus shot at different ages to keep up the immunity.

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