A combined 60% of respondents saw the government’s recent step as “absolutely right” or “rather right” in a survey conducted by the Unique Research institute for the Profil magazine. That compares with 36% who saw the policy as absolutely or rather wrong.

People not willing to get inoculated may be fined thousands of euros from February, according to initial proposals for the policy.

The share of supporters largely matches Austria’s 66% vaccination rate. That’s one of the lowest in western Europe, although the pace of first vaccinations has picked up this month, to almost 71%.