Sir, – While there may be short-term benefits in a compulsory vaccination for Sars-CoV-2, in the long-term it may undermine the other important vaccination programmes that we have.
People have a right to maintain the confidentiality of their health record and to refuse to receive any medication or treatment no matter how illogical the reason, but society also has a right/obligation to protect itself.
The classic example is smoking. People have a right to smoke but society has insisted that they cannot do it in work, restaurants, public transport, etc. Furthermore, we require them to make a financial contribution to their future care in the form of a heavy tax on cigarettes.
Just as with smokers, society has the right to protect itself from infection with Sars-CoV-2 by isolating those who refuse to disclose their vaccine status.
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Furthermore, they should not be entitled to the pandemic employment payment as they are not contributing to the fight against Covid-19. People have a right to dine in a restaurant without being exposed to cigarette smoke or being infected with Sars-CoV-2.
– Yours, etc,
Prof DERMOT COX
School of Pharmacy
and Biomolecular Sciences,
RCSI, Dublin.