What began as early summer optimism about the end of the pandemic has turned into frustration, anger, and worry over a steep rise in COVID cases and hospitalizations. Many are pointing the finger at the unvaccinated, accusing them of selfish and risky behaviour that puts everyone else’s lives, and livelihoods, at risk. Hospital ICUs are filling up again, health care workers are being forced back to the frontline, and taxpayers are expected to foot the bill for those who refused the shot. Some schools are being required to go online again, and many businesses will not be able to recover. With only 61% of US adults fully vaccinated, the virus will be able to circulate, and we run the risk of developing a new breed of vaccine-resistant strains. Some medical practitioners are calling on the government to step in: if individuals refuse to do their part and get the shot, mandates must be introduced to force them to do so. Others argue that draconian edicts such as vaccine mandates harm public health. Not only will they erode trust and increase vaccine hesitancy, but they could also court unnecessary risks for youth and children. Young people are far less likely to develop serious health complications from COVID and therefore should not be required to take vaccines whose potential effects have not been studied over the longer term. And finally, mandating shots in wealthy countries indirectly denies protection for older, more vulnerable populations in the developing world. Everyone should be given the ability to choose what they put in their body, else we become a nation where our basic freedoms play second fiddle to public health.

Arguing for the motion is Paul Offit, Professor of Vaccinology and Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Arguing against the motion is Martin Kulldorff, biostatistician, epidemiologist and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School.

QUOTES:

PAUL OFFIT

“This is a contagious disease, and it is not your right to spread this disease to others and cause harm... we have to compel people to do the right thing because they seem not to want to do the right thing on their own.” 

MARTIN KULLDORFF

“If we want to have long-term trust in public health, we cannot use coercion and mandates. We have to use education and mutual trust.”

Sources: 

ABC, NBC, CBC, FOX

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