Austria: Salafist association stirred up anti-vaccination sentiment on the net

Of all places, the most populous district of Vienna has the lowest vaccination rate. According to a report on public broadcaster ORF Radio, this is due to the fact that a relatively large number of young people live in the district of Favoriten – but the official population statistics do not support this statement. A completely different assumption suggests itself.

As reported, there are strong regional differences in the vaccination rate in Vienna: while in the inner districts as well as in Hietzing and Währing 60 percent have already been vaccinated against the Corona virus, only 32 percent have been vaccinated in Favoriten – Vienna’s most populous district thus ranks last. According to a report on ORF Radio Wien, which was broadcast on Tuesday at noon, this can be explained by the fact that a relatively large number of young people live in the 10th district and that it is mainly older people who have been vaccinated against the Corona virus. However, this explanation is probably too short-sighted in view of the population statistics of Vienna.

According to statistics of the City of Vienna, the officially “youngest” district is actually Simmering, where the vaccination rate is not really exhilarating either, but higher than in the 10th district. Interesting detail: Although many young people live in the 10th district, its age structure does not differ significantly from the overall population in Vienna. “There are also differences in the age pyramids. However, those of Favoriten (10th), Meidling (12th), Ottakring (16th), Hernals (17th) and Brigittenau (20th) are confusingly similar to the overall pyramid of Vienna,” says the official statistics of the City of Vienna concerning the year 2020.

Against this background, using the age structure as the only explanation for the weak willingness to be vaccinated in Favoriten does not go far enough. Instead, another explanation suggests itself: Recently, in the context of the publication of the “Islam map”, it has again become clear that the 10th district is a “hot spot” of radical Muslims, such as the nationalist Turkish Grey Wolves. While there is a willingness among the Muslim population in Vienna to be vaccinated against the Corona virus, representatives of political Islam are opposed to the issue. One of the reasons they give is that vaccinations are controversial in the Koran. In Iran, for example, an “Islamic medicine man” had propagated an alleged connection between the Corona vaccination and homosexuality.

Last year, for example, according to an eXXpress investigation, the Salafist fundraising association “Ansaar International”, which was banned this year by the German Ministry of the Interior on suspicion of terrorist financing, sought to close ranks with radical opponents of vaccination. Among other things, the association promoted a controversial petition against compulsory vaccination on its homepage, imitating the language of conspiracy theorists by writing about “frightening conspiracies between the pharmaceutical industry and some corrupt politicians”.

So if one talks about the reasons why the vaccination rate is higher in some Viennese districts than in others, the age structure can only be one explanation – of many.

https://exxpress.at/orf-erklaert-wiener-impf-schwund-mit-altersluege/