Covidistan Annals XXI: more injection dissent and ever-shriller media BS as the régime meets today to consider 'Freedom Day' in spring

Highlights incl. admissions of media BS by the Greens (of all people), an end of mask mandates in schools (yay), some experts disagree, and a retiring MD apparatchik comes out against forced jabs

Without much further ado, let me take you by the hand and lead through the maze masquerading as Covidistan politics on the very eve of the régime’s anticipated answer to the Constitutional Court. In late January, the Court, perhaps the last remaining pre-Covid coup d’état Austrian institution that is still ‘working’ (sort of) as it was intended, had asked Health Minister Mückstein a series of questions to determine whether or not the mandates were, in fact, justified.

The government’s answer is due by the close of business this Friday, 18 Feb. 2022, and given the questions—concerning a clarification of/with Covid in all contexts (hospitalisations, 1/2/3 injections vs. ‘unvaccinated’, mask mandates, the ‘lockdown’ of the ‘unvaccinated’, Covid Passports), it would appear highly likely that the régime’s answer—if such data actually existed in appropriate quality (which I doubt)—will inaugurate the next phase in the transition to a new political set-up.

Maybe there will be a snap election, maybe some other pawn will be ‘sacrificed’ (with a plush, comfy ‘golden chair’ elsewhere in the waiting, such as former chancellor Sebastian Kurz—a high school graduate—who’s now joining Palantir, run by his long-time ‘buddy’ Peter Thiel (the below tweet shows the two getting cosy at the Munich Security Conference 2017).

More Questions About Mandatory Injections

While, of course, these questions have a very long history, here’s a brief sampling of the crumbling support among the key players in government, among the technocrats and experts, and media reports; for brevity, this is a selective sampling from February 2022 only, i.e., the past two weeks.

We’ll start with epidemiologist Gerald Gartlehner, MD and head of the dept. of public health (or the like) over at Donau Universität Krems, who went on TV on 2 Feb. to voice his concerns: in spite of the Committee of Public Safety throwing literally everything including the kitchen sink at Omicron, the outcome was ‘a comparatively uncontrolled wave’, adding:

When it was determined to introduce mandatory injections [announced in late November], the situation was very different from today…Once the Omicron wave will have passed, we’ll have a level of population immunity like never seen before.’

Three days later, on 5 Feb., state broadcaster ORF added a piece on the ‘cautious’ outlook provided by the régime’s civil-military advisory board GECKO, which held that

If there are no more variants with high levels pathogenicity, if population-level immunity is above 90% (among the most vulnerable groups), if enough medication [this relates to Big Pharma stuff, not cheap generic ones, such as Ivermectin or HCQ] and injectionable biologicals [the original says ‘vaccines’, but these products are no such thing] are available, then ‘it will be possible to integrate all matters Covid-19 into the already-existing influenza surveillance structures’…

According to official data (as per 2 Feb.), 85-93% of all residents were either exposed to Sars-Cov-2 or received [at least one] injection.

A week ago, Health Minister Mückstein finally released the executive order (decree, in Putin-speak) that clarified the details, which was rubber-stamped by a parliamentary committee; I’ve written about this here, hence I shall delimit myself to the following brief addition: there are many, many medical exemptions in that decree (discussed in a bit more detail also over at ORF), hence it stands to reason that Mückstein didn’t want his signature legislation to be used in the wrong way.

Still, these pesky rumours about a snap election wouldn’t go away, and neither did the ‘technical difficulties’ we’ve also covered. Whatever the law stipulates and Mückstein’s decree defines, ELGA, the health insurance corporation in charge of patient records repeatedly stated it’s impossible to link their data with the Interior Ministry’s residency registration data, hence whatever is going to happen in terms of implementation of the law in spring will be contingent on fixing these problems first.

ELGA further maintained that there’s no way (yet) to implement a smooth accounting of all the exemptions; the Committee of Public Safety slyly added that this is no federal issue, but it’s something the states must deal with as they are responsible for implementation.

Sidenote: this is a very traditional, if largely unknown, aspect of Covidistan’s post-1945 domestic setup. While other federal systems such as the German or the American more clearly delimit the federal government’s powers vs. the states, Austria’s constitution (written in 1920, amended in 1929, and re-instituted in 1945) does not. This situation often leads to bespoke, if entirely expectable, political theatre that if something controversial would have to be implemented, the federal gov’t and the states would simply throw the hot potatoe to each other claiming whatever would have to be done was something ‘the other side’ would have to implement (perform) or pay for.

While this setup is neither something special nor anything that’s germane to Austria (Covidistan), this is very much a problem with respect to gov’t funding mechanisms, which I also mentioned in my take on Mückstein’s enabling law masquerading as injection mandate, specifically §9. Entitled ‘earmarking’, this section envisions that any fines shall be used to finance the health care system. Sounds ‘nice’, but it really isn’t: if the federal gov’t doesn’t want to ‘perform’ responsibility, this is how it’s done in 3 easy steps:

1) draft a bad piece of legislation with lots of unpopular stuff and have the enforcement ‘farmed out’ to the states;

2) tell the states that they will merely be enforcing things (which lets the governors blame the federal gov’t) and that they don’t have to pay for if as the buck literally stops in Vienna;

3) as feds, then be o.k. with lots of ‘anti-Vienna’ sentiment voiced by the governors in public (huffing and puffing) who quietly take the federal funds.

Now you’ve set up a wonderful system of ‘legalised’ and ‘obfuscating’ entrapments, which you can use in virtually any context: healthcare issues? No problem, states do the implementation, feds pay, governors ‘caution’, get some attention in the press, and everything continues as envisioned.

In the meantime, more and more groups and institutions are questioning the (injection) mandates.

Shifting Responsibilities

As Mückstein’s people continue to struggle with the implementation of the injection mandate, which will be resolved ‘in April at the latest’, more and more small businesses are coming forward to call for an end of the Covid Passport system. Hence, pieces like this here over at ORF, which describes how ‘close-contact’ businesses such as hairdresser, and the like are suffering. For once, the latter piece includes some numbers, to be sure: according to Erika Rainer, head of the national hairdresser association (yes, there’s such a thing), claimed that the Covid Passport requirement has reduced business by 30% across the board, a share that is virtually indistinguishable from the share of the population that has a ‘valid’ Covid Passports (which stood at 69.69%, according to the Health Ministry).

As state media provides ample room for tyrannical voices from outside Covidistan (see here for ORF referring to German ‘experts’ cautioning against ‘swiftly re-opening society’), the Vienna putschists are trying to deflect the blame by shifting responsibility to ‘the experts’ to determine the state-of-play on which the Committee of Public Safety may then act.

Here’s, e.g., the president of the Medical Association of the Tyrol, Artur Wechselberger, MD and long-time apparatchik (he’s held that position since 1990), was interviewed by the Austria Presse Agentur (APA), the national media agency, but for whatever reason (/sarcasm), there’s no item to be found on their website.

Curiously enough, but not really surprising, APA also sells ‘content solutions’ and counts the Austrian Food and Drug Safety Agency (AGES) among its customers.

Who would’ve thought *that*.

That said, we need to rely on snippets state and de facto state media publish from Wechselberger’s apparently ‘super-controversial’ interview, which, by the way, also gained him some notoriety over at Wikipedia (note that their ‘facts’ in this regard are also based on that APA interview, which isn’t referenced, though):

Apologies for this detour, here’s what Wechselberger—who’s retiring, by the way—said that was deemed ‘too sensitive’ for the public’s eyes and ears, according to Unser Tirol (my emphases):

What added value can one yet expect from the injection mandate, if one admits that we’ll never reach 100% [injection cover], that we’ve already reached a quite high level of injections [75.94% of the entire population, as per 14 Feb.], and population-wide exposure [Durchseuchung] is very high, too…solid epidemiological and scientific data are without a doubt required…

Is it desirable that…we spend vast amounts of money to create a new bureaucratic behemoth…and do we as society really wish to live perilously close to unconstitutionality, including specifically the Constitutional Court that may still declare [part of these mandates] illegal.

Wechselberger further decried the ‘incompetence’ of Covidistan’s putschists relative to their peers in the U.S. when it comes to ‘story-telling’ (oh, the irony), but didn’t mince words when it came to pointing out the absurdity of the domestic situation. At the first press appearance of the heads of the civil-military advisory board, Maj. Gen. Striedinger came wearing his combat fatigue, which Wechselberger described this as follows:

No-one will be able to convince me that doing so is a confidence-inspiring, positive, and motivating signal.

In closing, Wechselberger also went on the record (albeit quoted elsewhere) on the future of the injection mandate. Unfortunately, the below passage can only be related indirectly, as ORF doesn’t publish direct quotes:

Wechselberger was happy about the re-opening steps, which would take place in tandem with the receding Omicron wave. Once the latter is over, Wechselberger is on the record calling for a complete rescinding of all Covid-related mandates.

Right now, it looked as if there’s not new outbreak in sight that might change the equation fundamentally. Hence, the pandemic is morphing into an epidemic. Testing should be reduced to a minimum, and vaccination should also be available along traditional avenues, i.e., like against influenza.

Finally, Wechselberger also went on national TV (see here) and called for a suspension of the injection mandate and renewed his criticism of testing asymptomatic people, calling it similarly ‘without added benefit’.

Nehammer Committed Heresy by Telling the Truth

There’s a growing movement, by now finally also among political hacks and some media people, to end the mandates. Retiring professionals and apparatchiks such as Wechselberger can be considered the proverbial canary in the coalmine, but I do wonder: what took you so long?

Still, the Committee is under increasing pressure from all sides: a sizable chunk of the public has had it with the mandates; the previously unified front of experts, functionaries, and technocrats is crumbling (see the examples cited above); and both state and de facto state media are becoming increasingly ‘wobbly’ in their support for the tyrannical impositions.

Take, for instance, the following media items: on the same day Wechselberger’s late news interview made headlines (13 Feb.), state broadcaster ORF reported that the régime was looking into the appointment of a bespoke injection mandate evaluation board ‘soon’. Updated shortly before midnight that very same day, some cautionary verbiage was included.

The next day, in Green-supportive daily Der Standard, Gerald John and Gudrun Springer all but called these thoughts—about the tentative suspension of the injection mandate—treason: ‘Does Nehammer distance himself from the injection mandate?’

First the governors, now the chancellor: those who followed the news in the past few days could hardly avail themselves of the following impression. One politician after another appeared to distance themselves from the injection mandate.

So, let’s briefly check what Nehammer had told the daily Kronen-Zeitung the day before (note that in the warped self-perception of Covidistan media, Der Standard self-identifies as ‘quality journalism’ while the Kronen-Zeitung is typically called—by these same virtue-signalling people—a tabloid, but do note that the Standard journos never relate all matters Covid-19 to other concerns, such as below; the below emphasis are mine):

Q: Tens of thousands are protesting the Covid mandates every week, at the same time we see inflation ramping up. Is the government on top of it all?

Nehammer: Corona is placing a really big burden, and the crisis is unfortunately far from over. We want to restore freedom to the people. Hence, we must react to the virus in a continuously flexible way, if only because [Sars-Cov-2] hasn’t disappeared. As regards inflation concerns, we just passed measures worth 1.7 billion €, which translates into [tax reductions or transfer payments worth] up to 800€ per year for those who need it. Also, the latest eco-social tax reform to the tune of 18 billion € is currently in the works, which all means that we’re fighting inflation…

And here’s where we are right now, but keep in mind this interview went live on Sunday, 13 Feb. 2022 (same source as above, emphasis mine):

Q: Come Wednesday [today, 16 Feb.], next opening steps are considered: how does this tie in with the injection mandate?

Nehammer: We came together in parliament and gathered a large majority in favour of the injection mandate. To me, the injection mandate is but a tool in the toolbox that we can use against Sars-Cov-2. We will use any such tool, if it proves necessary. An advisory panel consisting of legal scholars and medical professionals is continually evaluating, if injections continue to be the most justifiable means, because the injection mandate is massively intrusive. Thus, we must tread carefully, and the law reflects this, it gives us these possibilities. On the other hand, it is important that the people regain their freedom. This all ties neatly together.

Contrary to the Big Pharma and Gates/Wellcome shills over at Der Standard, though, the (alleged) tabloid Kronen-Zeitung actually pressed Nehammer on these issues:

Q: Even your own [fellow party-member] governors are publicly questioning the injection mandate. Will the mandate be rescinded?

Nehammer: That’s not the point. The mandate is under continuous evaluation anyways, and this is what the governors are demanded. As long as our expert advisors tell us, ‘Yes, injections are the most appropriate means’, the injection mandate will stay on the books.

Q: In other words—the mandate may soon be history?

Nehammer: If the experts judge it to be that way and recommend [abrogation] to the government, yes. The mandate’s purpose was never to coerce anyone into doing anything [right…/sarcasm, for there are many receipts], but to propose the right solution at the right moment to deal with the dangers of Sars-Cov-2 at a particular point in time.

You see, if you’re among the fanatics over in the Mückstein faction of the Green party and their media lapdogs (here’s looking at you, Der Standard), Nehammer committed heresy by merely explaining the functioning of the legal process.

Covidistan at a Crossroads

Don’t just take it from me, though, for there’s plenty of evidence to buttress what I just stated. In the above-linked piece over at Der Standard, Mr. John and Ms. Springer assure their certainly frightened-to-death readership that Nehammer didn’t do any such thing. Asking ‘did the Chancellor flip-flop?’, the Green-and-Big Pharma sell-outs ‘explain’ that Nehammer, in fact, merely explained how the injection mandate is intended to work. In other words: the header and lede are summarily misleading (if I were to fact-check the media, that is; since I don’t, I’d call BS on this one).

In addition to this non-revelation, Der Standard then quotes the Green parliamentary leader, an intellectual non-entity by the name of Sigrid Maurer, as follows (as if her statement was needed, but hey, Mr. John, Ms. Springer, and their ilk are partisan hacks, not journalists), which 110% confirm the validity of Nehammer’s above statements and, perhaps unintentionally so, confirms my take on Der Standard’s disinformation (my emphasis):

Nehammer’s statements on the injection mandate are in complete accordance with the positions of the Greens. There are zero disagreement or rejection [of the mandate], there’s only misinterpretation by the media.

Meanwhile, Nehammer, while on an official visit in Switzerland, informed the public that the expert committee will be convened ‘in the coming weeks’, even though he refused to put forth a concrete date.

This all happened two days ago, on 14 Feb., but there’s more.

Education Minister Martin Polaschek (ÖVP) also went on national radio and told the country’s parents that the mask mandate in all schools will be rescinded as of 21 Feb. 2022. In addition, sports activities such as skiing weeks and the like will become possible again, too. While some restrictions continue to apply for now (e.g., continued testing 3X a week, limits on visitors, etc.) Polaschek also noted that the rest of these mandates may be allowed to lapse by the end of the month.

Polaschek was seconded by the powerful teachers’ union chairman, Paul Kirnberger, who added that it would be ‘incomprehensible’ why teachers would have to continue to wear masks. (Note that mask mandates for primary school students were rescinded a week ago, on 7 Feb.)

Yesterday, 15 Feb., ‘even’ the Social Democrat-led state of Vienna, typically at the shrill forefront of the most lunatic mandates, finally rescinded many of mandates, exempting ‘injected and recovered’ children from quarantine duties from next week onwards.

Absurdly, non-teachers and some experts then went public voicing their complaints about these changes. Thankfully summarised by ORF (although you can see earlier evidence also here), here’s a listing of these despicable individuals:

Gerry Foitik, head of the Red Cross, bird-pooped (to which I won’t link):

I was opposed to the lifting of the mask mandates. Masks are minimally intrusive, cheap, and effective means to prevent infections. Thus, I recommend wearing them indoors [in schools] until Easter.

I call BS on this one, too, esp. when it comes to the renewed spreading of misinformation (masks don’t prevent infections) by Twitter. Where are all the enraged fact-checkers when one actually ‘needed’ them?

Foitik (who’s neither an epidemiologist nor a physician, by the way), was seconded by epidemiologist Andreas Bergthaler, a renowned Covid Hawk, who also bird-pooped the régime’s determination,

Asking about 1) the evidence we’re treating primary schools differently [compared to other schools], 2) which parameters and thresholds were used to consider the epidemiological state, all the while 3) reaffirming that structured testing in schools is of great value

In this, Bergthaler was seconded by ‘complexity scientists’ Niki Popper who, despite all his credentials, cannot figure out why Minister Polaschek came to this conclusion.

Shame on them, but it’s at least some good news for the children.

Hilariously, Education Minister Polaschek merely retorted in the following way, perhaps showcasing the régime’s new trial balloon for the next couple of months:

The determination about ending mask mandates in classrooms was reached in concordance with the Health Ministry.

The Health Ministry followed up on this by stating:

There was no explicit recommendation by the experts in this matter.

Here’s where we are as the Committee meets today

Come 19 Feb., the infamous 2G rule (access-only for recovered or validly injected) will end, thus ‘the unvaccinated’ will again be allowed to almost fully participate in public life, provided they can produce a negative PCR test no older than 48 hours (rapid antigen tests are valid for 24 hours).

What might come next: ending the restrictions on restaurants and night clubs, sports and recreation activities, and quarantine requirements.

Yet, the big-ticket question—which the Big Pharma and Bill Gates fans over at Der Standard seem to be afraid of—is: will ‘Freedom Day come this spring’?

As the régime meets to ponder these momentous issues, more BS is put forth by Der Standard. Arguing against further freedoms, Jasmin Altrock states:

Only 20% of all 5-12yo children are injected so far, and it is precisely them who must no longer wear masks in class. This is utterly incomprehensible: without masks, Omicron can freely spread among this target group…

Doesn’t anyone think about the children and to protect them? What about their siblings who perhaps cannot get injected or, God forbid, have any number of medical grounds that prevent injection?…

It stands to hope that this political decision will not backfire…the end of mask mandates in schools does not contribute to a relaxation of the epidemiological pressures.

Now, I don’t know where one finds these cognitively impaired shills, but one thing appears clear: we’ve entered the late stage of the Corona madness. Now that the united pro-mandate front is crumbling, all eyes are on the legacy media that so utterly failed and betrayed the public.

My expectation is this: maybe the ÖVP will be able to rein in Mückstein and his ilk, but I doubt that the Greens—for their very own political survival—will be able to accept such a course of action.

Thus follows that the one thing that we can be reasonably be certain of is—the legacy media, esp. the partisan hacks over at Der Standard and their ilk will rabidly go bonkers and fire at literally everyone and every institution that doesn’t agree. As governments try to regain legitimacy and try to restore some semblance of the rule of law and sanity, the failures of the legacy media will become more and more apparent to more and more people.

Legacy media will respond by spewing even more deranged and utter nonsense, in particular releasing the attack hounds on those politicians and experts that publicly ‘deviate’ from the media-ordained ‘illuminated path’.