Can the Czech Republic challenge Europe’s vaccine orthodoxy?

The Omicron wave has left European counties standing at a crossroads this year. Despite the relative mildness of Omicron compared to previous variants, several countries have stormed ahead with harsher measures to protect their populations from the virus. In Austria, for example, a vaccine mandate will come into effect on Tuesday, and until last week the unvaccinated had been confined to their homes for over two months. Germany is considering following Austria’s lead and introducing a vaccine mandate too. But other countries are starting to see this less deadly wave as an opportunity to restore normality to society, and are now backing away from some of their more extreme Covid measures. In this it could well be that the Czech Republic leads the way in challenging central Europe’s vaccine and lockdown orthodoxy.

This month a new Czech coalition government announced that it wants to ‘learn to live with’ the virus. It has maintained this stance despite cases spiralling to a record high of 54,685 on Thursday, in a country with a population of just over 10 million.