Bombay Durpun - Austria's far right woos anti-vaxxers with fund for vaccine 'victims'

The controversial project, pushed through by the Freedom Party (FPOe) -- which looks set to win this week's Austrian elections -- has raised the ire of other parties but has drawn thousands of applications.

"I have an association that takes care of vaccination victims," said Rutter, who is known for spreading conspiracy theories online.

The 41-year-old helped organise massive demonstrations against the conservative-led government's Covid measures, which were also attended by the FPOe's leader Herbert Kickl.

The far right is tapping into still seething voter anger about restrictions during the Covid pandemic, which it hopes will propel them to power on Sunday.

"The FPOe was the only party that did not support these measures," Rutter told AFP, describing them as an "orgy" of restrictions.

- Cash for jab refuseniks -

Rutter -- who peddles conspiracy narratives online, including recommending fruits to cure cancer -- has applied for money from a 31.3-million-euro ($34.8-million) fund set up by the Lower Austria region, which the FPOe co-governs, for "information events" he organises.

The fund was set up last year to "repair" the "poor crisis management" of the pandemic, according to Maximilian Fender-Tarczaly, who works for the FPOe state councillor in charge of the project.

The project is meant to support "victims... who are suffering from the various consequences of the disease, the measures and the vaccination", he said in a written reply to AFP.

"The spectrum is broad... mental health problems, isolation, vaccination impairments, fines for non-compliance with health measures," he wrote.

Some 5,700 applications had been approved and 3.7 million euros paid out by July, but "until now no money has been paid" to Rutter, Fender-Tarczaly said then.

The FPOe is keen to roll out the project nationally, railing in its election manifesto against the government's "unprecedented indoctrination and brainwashing" during the pandemic.

- 'Irresponsible' -

Health Minister Johannes Rauch of the Greens party described the project as "irresponsible", arguing that out of 20 million vaccinations, just 200 people have suffered side effects.

"Vaccination has saved millions of lives, and if the willingness to be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella also decreases, this jeopardises the lives of children," he said in May.

The opposition Social Democrats have accused the FPOe of "losing all moral sense" by offering a "bonus" to those who "attack elected officials", while the opposition liberal NEOS party has slammed the far right for pandering to its base.

The pandemic -- and in particular the government's move to make vaccination mandatory, which was later scrapped -- have led to lasting "polarisation" in the Alpine nation of nine million people, according to Julia Partheymueller, a political scientist from Vienna University.

The vaccinations "victims" project was a means to criticise "the government's mistakes" and has come from a "desire for revenge" rather than reconciliation," she argued.

G.Radhakrishnan--BD