City hiring people-hunters to pursue and fine the unvaxxed

A city in Austria is looking for employees who will be tasked with enforcing fines against those unwilling to get the Covid jab. The recruitment drive comes weeks ahead of a sweeping vaccine mandate in the European country.

Successful candidates will be issuing penalties, processing appeals and taking measures against those who fail to shell out their fine for being unvaccinated, says a job ad placed by the Austrian city of Linz. The opening line says the job will suit those who “take pleasure in working with legislation and administrative procedures.”

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The employees’ hard toil will be remunerated monthly with a salary starting from €2,774 ($3,126). To qualify for the job, an individual will have to hold Austrian citizenship, be a secondary school graduate, be resilient and prepared to work overtime, have no criminal record, and, last but not least, have a valid Covid vaccination or recovery certificate.

On top of that, women will be given priority when vying for the post against men with comparable qualifications.

Linz, home to 200,000 residents, is known to have the lowest Covid vaccination rate across Austria. According to a website tracking the issuance of digital vaccination certificates in the country, only 63% of the city’s population have received a complete dosage of a Covid vaccine so far.

Earlier in December, the ruling conservatives and two out of three opposition parties agreed to make Covid vaccination mandatory for all Austrians, bar those under 14 or those having medical exemptions, by February, 1, 2022. Those unwilling to get the shot can expect to be fined heavily every three months. If an individual persists in resisting vaccination during the course of a year, they could end up having to shell out a total of €3,600 for the 12 months, according to media reports.

Austria is the first nation in Europe to have announced a sweeping vaccine mandate for all its citizens. Vienna was also the first in the world to impose a strict nationwide lockdown specifically for the unvaccinated in November, only for it to be expanded to also include the vaccinated citizens weeks later. The lockdown expired on December 12, but unvaccinated Austrians still remain banned from non-essential outings.