Civic rights vs the corona vaccine

SHOULD you have the right to decline the coronavirus vaccine?

Some would say no, that you should be forced to take it in the name of public good.

The opposing view might say yes, and that you have the right to do so, for whatever reasons.

This is a debate that is being discussed all over the world, including here. In fact, an article by Reuters, titled “Less than a third of Filipinos open to COVID-19 jabs” presented the following stats: “The survey by Pulse Asia conducted between Nov. 23 and Dec. 2, found that 32 percent of 2,400 respondents would get a COVID-19 vaccine jab when available, while 47 percent would refuse it over safety concerns.”

Of course, Filipinos are not the only people who are having second thoughts about the vaccine. All over the world people are arguing over whether or not to get it, and those arguments touch on morality, ethics, politics and even the nature of misinformation.

Looking at posts all over the internet, people are debating their right to reject the vaccines versus those who see it as necessary for their own safety. These arguments also often involve threats, insults, accusations and even outright psychotic hatred.

This is all apocryphal but in my experience, forums and social media are full of them. But don’t take my word for it. Go look up any comment section that tries to discuss the vaccine.

In any case, the vaccine debate is poised to put stress on the medical institutions of most countries as well as on social cohesion. In the Western World, for example, those who are willing to take the vaccine generally come from the left, while those who do not want to take it are usually from the right.

In other countries, the vaccine/anti-vaccine debate often has pro-government/anti-government dimensions.

And with governments talking about Vaccine Passports, the debate is only heating up. I don’t know where this is headed, but I don’t think it’s anywhere pleasant. And if the powers that be ever decide to force vaccination on people, we could even end up in a very nasty situation because the personal rights crowd will see it as a form of authoritarianism, and the pandemic could take a back seat to politics.  

Interesting times we’re living in./PN