Personal liberty, public health crisis, vaccine safety, unjust discrimination, informed consent, misinformation - these are the phrases we hear over and over since the debate over vaccine mandates began this year. Since the end of October, the new mandate for the private sector has been in effect. It says that businesses that employ just five or more workers must ensure that employees are vaccinated, or those employees must stay home. In this episode, we invited a lawyer, a trade unionist, and an industrial relations consultant to debate the reasonableness of the new mandate which many see as an overreach, and others argue is a critical step toward better safeguarding public health.
The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are:
More Background:
The issue of vaccine mandates has been an extremely controversial one not only in Antigua and Barbuda, but around the world. It's an issue which challenges our understanding of personal rights and liberties, and of when those liberties ought to be limited for the public good. It's also an issue heavily clouded by false and alarmist information about vaccines and Covid-19 which has plagued us in effectively responding to the pandemic since 2020.
Covid-19 is a deadly and highly contagious disease. Vaccination, despite the risk of rare adverse events which health specialists worldwide have been tracking and reporting on, is considered safe and effective at reducing the damage this disease does. So is a mandate not wise? Yet, some merely see the mandate as the government trying to have its way, rather than as a public health necessity for each individual's greater safety. Added to that, what about the risk of creating hardship with the new policy?
Unemployment is already serious. Could adding a mandate in the private sector send the vaccine hesitant or opponents into unemployment? What good will that do? If mandates are broadly in effect in both the public and private sector, then there's essentially nowhere to run. The government may have to take hard stances, but squeezing people into the breadline creates another problem entirely. And yet, the government and employers still have a responsibility to create workspaces that are as safe as possible from the spread of Covid-19, and no workspace is as safe as possible if the people there are not vaccinated.
This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on November 7th, 2021. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.
