Vienna, Austria’s former health minister Rudolf Anschober has become successful as the author of a coronavirus non-fiction book.

With “Pandemia,” an analysis of coronavirus policies and the description of the fates of several people who fell ill, the 61-year-old Green politician climbed to number one on the bestseller list of non-fiction books in Austria in April.

“It is surprising,” Anschober told dpa. The success shows the immense interest in coming to terms with the first coronavirus years, he said: “The pandemic changes everyone.”

One of the basic mistakes of politicians, he said, was to lump together the vaccination sceptics and the vaccination opponents.

Among the 30% of non-vaccinated people in Austria, only one in three is against the injection, the rest are waiting for further persuasion.

The spreading carelessness in the face of falling infection figures is a delicate matter, Anschober said. “Shaking people out of this carefree mood is the most difficult thing of all,” Anschober said, favouring a campaign before autumn.

A common Europe-wide strategy without a patchwork of different measures would be ideal, the ex-minister said: “People have no confidence in politics if neighbouring regions like Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Salzburg each have different rules.”

Compulsory vaccination, which is on hold in Austria, is inevitable if the course does not point to a vaccination rate of 90% in September, he said.

Anschober was health minister in the coalition of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the Greens from January 2020 to April 2021 and had at times overtaken then-chancellor Sebastian Kurz in popularity.

In the first year of the pandemic, he launched about 150 coronavirus ordinances. Under the burden of the extensive portfolio, he finally gave up for health reasons.

Source: Oman News Agency