On the day of writing this article, the government have decided to change the goal posts again. Three doses of the Covid-19 vaccine (two, plus a booster) will soon be required to be considered fully vaccinated to access certain events (it is important to note, that the negative lateral flow test result still remains as an alternative). Talks of mandatory vaccinations have been bandied about recently, in response to their introduction or proposed introduction across other European nations like Austria and Germany. Boris Johnson signalled the potential for a future “national conversation” on the topic. Though, Health Secretary, Sajid Javid has called them “ethically wrong”, it wouldn’t be the first time that the Conservative government has committed a u-turn. The prospect of unending jabs to simply access spaces looms larger overhead, and is quite ridiculous and untenable, but, the requirement of the booster vaccine to claim full vaccination status for the Covid Pass, begs the questions: what does it mean to be fully vaccinated? What about those who have taken the vaccine later than the schedule, what of those who haven’t taken it yet, who are apprehensive and scared? Will they be left behind and penalised? Is that fair?
There are some positives of implementing a mandatory vaccination programme. If mass vaccination is proven to be the most effective way of slowing down or stopping the spread of the virus, and of course, significantly reducing the number of hospitalisations and deaths, then of course it is worth considering. Reaching herd immunity is crucial to protecting the most vulnerable people in society, and for ensuring that we, as a society, can get back to normal as quickly as possible. Statistics show that 80% of the UK’s adult population are fully vaccinated (i.e. have received two doses). Even though that is a large percentage of the population, it isn’t necessarily enough as we have seen through the rising Covid cases with the new variant, and a concerted effort to get everyone triple vaccinated. This doesn’t mean we should ditch mass vaccination programmes at all. We should be encouraging people who haven’t been vaccinated to get theirs, and to those who have been double vaccinated to receive a booster (if they so wish). It means we need to look at other additional avenues to help the fight against Covid, such as wearing masks in all indoor spaces, consistent lateral flow testing, an emphasis on ventilation in indoor spaces, a clear focus on schools, the reintroduction of self-isolation for close contacts of those who have tested positive, and crucially financial support for those self-isolating, alongside mass vaccination.
What would be better is attempting to incentivise, educate, and reassure those people who are vaccine hesitant for various, extremely valid reasons. Vaccine hesitancy particularly affects marginalised communities. Zesha Saleem’s article for gal-dem: “‘We love conspiracy theories’ – why getting the Covid-19 vaccine to communities of colour is an uphill battle” surmises this phenomenon in more depth. People of colour have borne the primary brunt of the impact of Covid-19, yet remain reluctant to take the vaccine which would be beneficial in reducing the amount of cases, hospitalisations, and death from the virus. Vaccine hesitancy is rooted in mistrust: of the medical profession, of the government. An excerpt from the gal-dem article mentioned above surmises the way that one Black British woman feels: “We are not treated well by the health service,” says Jasmine, referring to the fractured relationship between the medical world and PoC communities. “In essence, the people who are supposed to care for us do not see our humanity. Our pain doesn’t register to them and as a result, our outcomes are worse after treatment.”
Furthermore, although you can be vaccinated without an NHS number, your vaccine record can only be registered with the NHS if you are registered with the NHS too. This eliminates undocumented migrants, homeless people and those with insecure housing and members of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community from areas of public social life under proposals for mandatory vaccinations and proof of vaccine status. Something must be done to counter this.
And, how will mandatory vaccination function? Considering you need to wait at least 8 weeks between your first and second dose and then 3 months for the booster, will you be alienated from public life for around 5 months, will you be penalised with a fine for not having it done? If mandatory vaccinations are introduced there must be a timeline introduced to receive all the required doses of the vaccination before you can be penalised, particularly as the government has changed the goalposts by effectively making the booster mandatory to be considered a fully-vaccinated person.
However, the primary reason that a mandatory vaccination programme isn’t viable is because of the global vaccine apartheid. There is little point in introducing a vaccine mandate of the global north whilst leaving the global south largely unvaccinated. Despite around 80-85% of the UK’s adult population being fully vaccinated, the UK ordered an additional 114 million COVID vaccine doses. However, just 6% of Africa’s 1.2 billion people have received two doses. COVAX was a scheme created to ensure equal vaccine distribution globally, ‘through a centralised donation and purchasing scheme’. But this has failed. It’s goal of distributing 2 billion vaccines was revised to 1.45 billion by the end of the year. However, by December 2021 only 589 million had been shipped – half a million of those headed to the UK. Alena Ivanova’s article for openDemocracy explains that the problem is not supply, but good old-fashioned capitalism and colonialism: “But a waiver on intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and tests – a proposal to increase production that is supported by much of the world –is being blocked by the same countries that have hoarded doses and protected the financial interests of big pharma.” Without achieving widespread global herd immunity, Covid-19 will continue to spread, providing a fertile breeding ground for new strains to develop, claiming more lives, increasing restrictions on our daily freedoms, and the cycle of vaccination in the wealthy global north begins again.
It’s important that we stay committed to a mass vaccination programme, as vaccination does seem to be working generally in decreasing the number of hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19, thus protecting the most vulnerable people in society. The current booster programme should also remain in place, however, any further booster programmes should function in the same way as the year flu-jab, offered to those most at risk, people in proximity to vulnerable people, and those who wish to have it but do not need it. However, all of this should be based on personal choice. We should build trust with those who are vaccine hesitant, provide spaces where their worries and concerns are listened to, we should attempt to educate both vaccine hesitant and anti-vaxxers alike. Implementing a two-tier system of citizenship based on vaccination status is deeply unfair, whether through mandatory vaccination programmes or vaccine-only passes, and only adds fuel to the fire of conspiracy theorists. Incentives, education and reassurance, rather than derision and punishment will encourage more people to become vaccinated. Of course, addressing global inequality with vaccine distribution is a must. Without this, the virus will continue to spread, to mutate, to become resistant to vaccines, so more boosters will be required and the cycle will continue. It’s imperative that herd immunity through vaccination is achieved on a global scale, and countries should be working together to ensure this, rather than narrowly focusing on just controlling the virus within their own populations.
Edited by Charlotte Lewis (Editor-in-Chief)
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