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Austria to Implement Vaccine Register, Fine Unvaccinated Residents up to $4,000
New legislation in Austria will create a central COVID-19 vaccination register to record all vaccinated and vaccine-exempt people, fining people who don’t fall into either group as much as 3,600 euros, or $4,000 every three months.
The new measures will take effect on Feb. 1. Austrian Health Minister Wolfgang Mueckstein said the vaccination register will be checked every three months, with the first cutoff date being Mar. 15.
Government authorities will send letters to unvaccinated people who are unexempt at these three-month intervals reminding them to get the vaccine or a doctor-issued exemption by the next cutoff date. If they refuse, they will be fined until they comply.
Senate Votes to Block Biden Vaccine Mandate for Large Companies
The U.S. Senate voted on Wednesday night to block President Joe Biden’s mandate for coronavirus vaccinations or testing for private-sector workers in a mostly symbolic defeat for the administration but one that illustrates the nation’s political polarization over dealing with the pandemic.
Two Democrats representing states Biden lost last year — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana — joined all 50 Republicans to oppose the mandate, which has already been paused by the courts and is not yet being enforced.
The measure passed with a vote of 52 to 48 in the evenly divided chamber.
Judge to Review New York City Vaccine Mandate for Public Sector
A New York judge has scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday to consider whether to block New York City from enforcing its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for public-sector workers.
In an order on Tuesday, Justice Frank Nervo of the New York state court in Manhattan said he will consider whether to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) at the Dec. 14 hearing.
Nervo has not ruled on the mandate’s merits. He issued an order on Wednesday clarifying that he had not “issued a stay,” following incorrect media reports that he had issued a TRO. The city says the mandate remains in force.
White House to Fund Tech to Evade Censorship and Increase Privacy
The White House launched an initiative to award grants to innovators working on technology to bolster democracy by developing tools that enhance privacy or circumvent censorship, a White House official told Reuters.
A total of $3.75 million will be awarded to winners of the grants, the official said.
As part of the program, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will work with the United Kingdom to offer grants to advance and boost the adoption of technology that promotes privacy and protects intellectual property.
Pandemic Tech Tools Raise Risk of Everyday Tracking
Tech tools like digital contact tracing apps and artificial intelligence that European governments rolled out to combat COVID-19 failed to play a key role in solving the pandemic and now threaten to make such monitoring widely accepted, a new report shows.
The health surveillance technologies that many European countries deployed after the coronavirus pandemic erupted last year were often adopted without enough transparency, safeguards or democratic debate, according to a report released Thursday by AlgorithmWatch, a nonprofit research group that tracks the impact of AI systems.
The report’s authors said the most worrying trend was how the pandemic was used to “further entrench and normalize the surveillance, monitoring, measuring and prediction of an increasing number of daily activities — now essentially including public and personal health purposes.”
NYC Correction Officers Union Sues City Over Vaccine Mandate
The union representing the city’s correction officers sued City Hall on Wednesday in hopes of halting the “draconian vaccine mandate” that has exacerbated the agency’s staffing crisis.
Hundreds of officers who refused to get the jab by last week’s deadline have been sent home — and the suit also seeks to undo the city’s order requiring officers to work 60-hour weeks in order to help make up for the lost manpower.
For NYC Businesses, Vaccine Mandates Put Damper on Holiday
A surprise year-end decree by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordering virtually all businesses in his city to get workers vaccinated has sowed confusion and frustration — and could set off a mad holiday dash to force vaccine holdouts to choose between jabs or jobs.
Tens of thousands of unvaccinated New Yorkers and their employers are now thrust into an unwelcome reckoning over the mandate, set to go into effect two days after Christmas.
Francisco Marte, who employs 16 people at three bodegas across the Bronx, is in a precarious position: Force the shots on his few unvaccinated workers, or fire them. “It’s going to be hard to force them to do it,” said Marte, who voiced defiance should the city follow through with the edict. “I’m not going to lose a good employee because of de Blasio’s orders.”
Coronavirus Tests Are Needed for International Travel. But They Can Cost More Than a Flight.
Thinking of traveling internationally?
On top of uncertainty over waves linked to the Delta variant and the emergence of the Omicron variant, there’s the matter of those coronavirus tests needed to travel: Per person, they can cost hundreds of dollars depending on the place of departure, the destination, the type of test and the company providing them.
PCR test prices for travel can vary widely — and for many individuals and families, prohibitively — from under $10 in Mumbai to about $80 in Kenya to nearly $400 in Kansai, Japan.
Less sensitive rapid antigen tests, required within 24 hours of flying to the United States as of Dec. 3, can cost about $50 in Britain — and $134 at the airport in Oslo.
COVID Vaccine Passports Shouldn’t Sacrifice Privacy
Last week, Governor Charlie Baker confirmed that he plans to introduce COVID-19 vaccine verification technology in Massachusetts, similar to those used in several other states. The system will allow people to verify their vaccine status with a single scannable quick response code, or QR, when visiting restaurants, bars, and other public accommodations that require proof of vaccination for entry.
Many key details remain unclear, and there are privacy and civil liberties concerns with any system that relies on QR codes tied to our personal data.
First, absent law preventing it, companies may be able to use information derived from digital vaccine passports to keep records of where people go, and when.
Fauci Says Families Should ‘Ask,’ ‘Maybe Require’ COVID Vaccine for Holiday Guests Before Indoor Celebrations
Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested American families should consider enforcing a vaccine mandate in their own homes ahead of the holidays as fears mount over the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus across the country.
Fauci made the suggestion during an interview with The Washington Post, recommending families ask their holiday guests about their COVID vaccination status and even potentially require the vaccine before celebrations take place.
This is how families can “enjoy” their holiday traditions in an indoor setting, he said.
Get Booster or Get Out: Massachusetts Colleges Requiring Extra COVID Vaccine
Several colleges will require eligible students, staff and faculty to get COVID-19 booster shots for the spring semester.
The Boston Globe reported Wednesday Boston College, UMass and Emerson are among those mandating the extra dose of vaccination.
The news comes as COVID-19 cases spike and the Omicron variant spreads ahead of what could be another harsh pandemic winter.
Social Platforms Say It’s Hard to Tell Which Users Are Kids
Tech giants including Instagram are calling for Congress’ help in figuring out just how old their users actually are. In order to create child-friendly experiences, online platforms need to identify which users are actually children.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri became the latest industry leader to highlight the challenges of verifying the ages of users at a hearing before the Senate Commerce consumer protection subcommittee on Wednesday.
A federal law, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, requires online services to obtain parental consent before collecting data and personal information about users under 13.
Mosseri pitched lawmakers on age verification at the phone-level. “Have a parent who gives their 14-year-old a device tell the phone that their child is 14, as opposed to having every app — and there’s millions of apps out there — trying to verify the age on their own,” Mosseri said.
Everything Instagram Won’t Do to Protect Kids
On Wednesday, Instagram head and top Mark Zuckerberg deputy Adam Mosseri appeared before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security to testify about the platform’s impacts on children and teens.
A number of lawmakers pressured him to commit to various proposed fixes, which he largely dodged unless they were part of initiatives that Instagram already had in the works. Here’s a breakdown of everything Mosseri wouldn’t commit to.
Kelly Evans: The iPhone is Going Away
This may seem like a comical thing to say when Apple is about to potentially sell 40 million iPhones this holiday season, according to Wedbush. But the iPhone is in its sunset years. It has maybe the rest of this decade left before it’s put out to pasture. And all the buzz now is over Apple’s upcoming goggles.
This point was really driven home to me in my recent podcast with the CEO of Octi, Justin Fuisz (“Apple and the Metaverse”). Octi is a new, TikTok-like app that debuted last month to decent popularity.
For all the attention Facebook has garnered by changing its name to Meta Platforms, Fuisz says Apple is the real player to watch here. Of all the big tech giants, Apple is the only one he singles out as being well-positioned for this massive upcoming shift.
