Europe’s COVID crisis pits vaccinated against unvaccinated

By RAF CASERT and KAREL JANICEK
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — With coronavirus infections spiking again across Europe despite nearly two years of restrictions, the health crisis increasingly is pitting citizen against citizen — the vaccinated against the unvaccinated. Governments desperate to shield overburdened healthcare systems are imposing rules on unvaccinated people in hopes that doing so will drive up rates of vaccinations. Austria on Friday went a step further, making vaccinations mandatory as of Feb. 1. Some civil libertarians argue that nations are trampling individual rights. Clare Daly, an Irish EU legislator, says  there is “a sort of hate speech being whipped up against the unvaccinated.” But others, like Germany’s disease control chief, say “all of Germany is one big outbreak” and stricter measures are needed.