With infections spiking again despite nearly two years of restrictions, the health crisis increasingly is pitting citizen against citizen — the vaccinated against the unvaccinated. Austria on Friday went a step further, making vaccinations mandatory as of Feb. 1. With a vaccination rate of 67.5%, her nation is now considering mandatory vaccinations for many health professionals. Some 10,000 people, chanting “freedom, freedom,” gathered in Prague this week to protest Czech government restrictions imposed on the unvaccinated. Schoemakers said that while authorities had long baulked at the idea of mandatory vaccinations, the highly infectious delta variant is changing minds.
