This is the Second Leader from our Digital Edition dated October 1, 2021 Issue
Venkat Raman
Auckland, September 30, 2021
Governments all over the free world are struggling to get all their eligible population vaccinated- the surest way of achieving safety from Covid-19 since it is generally agreed that the virus and its variants will be with us for long.
While billions of dollars are being spent on importing vaccines (almost everyone everywhere is getting their jabs free or for a modest fee), the cause for worry is sections of populations who are unwilling to get vaccinations. These are not the people who ‘cannot be vaccinated’ for health and age reasons but the otherwise healthy and young people.
Vaccination in numbers
As we wrote this Leader, Healthy Ministry figures said that about 78% of eligible residents had received their first vaccination, while 44% had received their second as well. The total number of vaccinations administered currently stands at 5,132,627.
A look at the details shows that we have a long way to go before we achieve 90% and consider the possibility of safely opening our border for international travel.
Public debates, talkback shows and private discussions indicate reticence on the part of some sections across almost all communities in getting the jobs. While there is a consensus that vaccination has no alternative, the challenge is to get eligible, ‘anti-vaccinationists’ get inoculated so that businesses can run under the new normal and life can resume without fear of infection from those who have kept themselves away.
‘Vaccine Nationalism’
Developing countries have a different story to tell. As Fiji’s Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama told the UN General Assembly on September 26, 2021, ‘Vaccine Nationalism’ is preventing poorer, less developed countries from accessing the vaccine.
“Vaccine nationalism must end. The G7, G20, and multilateral financial institutions have failed to stop it. Only the UN can fill this void of leadership,” he said and joined his counterparts in calling on the UN to convene an urgent special meeting of Leaders to agree to a time-bound, cost, and detailed plan for the full vaccination of developing countries.
The Human Rights Issue
Many antagonists seem to harp on their human right to stay away from jabbed rather than advance any other argument. There are a few sceptics who say that the Covid-19 Vaccine has not been proved to be fully effective and cite the examples of a handful of people in various parts of the world who have contracted the diseases after having been fully vaccinated.
Even when vaccines are fully approved, countries will hesitate to force people to get jabbed
In 1853, the British government passed the world’s first mandatory vaccination law. By the age of three months, all children were required to be inoculated against smallpox. Failure to do so could result in a fine of £1, equivalent to around £130 ($179) today.
Hesitancy hinders
As the Economist pointed out, most governments recognise inoculation as the fastest way out of the pandemic but in many places hesitancy is hindering the roll-out. Even so, few governments are keen to make vaccines against covid-19 mandatory for all. Why not?
The World Health Organisation (WHO) does not support mandatory Covid-19 vaccines even for international travel. Even in authoritarian states like China, a vaccine mandate is not an official policy. Instead many countries have introduced passport systems that require vaccinations to access certain public spaces. Some also accept testing as an alternative.
“Vaccine mandates, even of those with full approval, could still face legal and ethical challenges. Compulsion risks fuelling anti-vax sentiment, undermining other inoculation programmes. Punishing non-compliance usually hits poorer and migrant families hardest. Although opinion varies greatly, a survey in January by Ipsos, a pollster, found that 77% of Mexicans and 68% of Brazilians supported mandatory vaccinations for Covid-19, compared with 37% of French people and 39% of Germans; democracies would struggle to force needles into arms. The hope is that enough people will get jabbed to render the question of whether to mandate jabs academic. The fear is that widespread hesitancy will make it even more pointed.
-Indian Newslink Editorial 2
