Mandatory vaccination

EDITOR, The Tribune.

There has been much spirited debate, and not a little political posturing on all sides, over the issue of employer-mandated COVID-19 vaccinations. Much of the discourse is being shaped without regard to the Law; focusing rather on the ‘politics’ of appeasing apparently irrational public fears or scepticism fueled by social media posts.

The facts are that mandatory vaccinations of all children born in The Bahamas has been in our law since the enactment of the Vaccinations Act 1860. Under Section 13 of that Act, it is mandatory for every parent or guardian to take every child born in The Bahamas, within six months after birth, to a vaccinator appointed by the Minister of Health, to be vaccinated against Smallpox. Smallpox in the 19th Century had the same impact as COVID-19 in the 21st Century, being both highly contagious and deadly.

Due to highly publicized information about small numbers of adverse reactions to various COVID-19 vaccines, fueled by industry competition and the, sometimes, apparent knee-jerk reactions by regulatory agencies or several nations, the “anti-vaxxers” are having a field day in sowing “vaccine skepticism”, and outright rejection, through social media postings.

The facts, however, emerge from studies conducted in Israel, the most highly vaccinated country in the world. Infection rates have plummeted after universal mass vaccinations. The risk of a viral breakthrough in a fully vaccinated person, or the risk of transmission from a fully vaccinated person, is infinitely low.

The questions thus arise, whether an employer can insist on vaccination as a condition of continued employment; or whether a school or university can insist on student and staff vaccination as a condition of attendance. In my view, the answer is unequivocally, Yes.

The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled that Under Article 8 of the EU Convention of Human Rights (referring to the right to privacy), mandatory vaccinations of children (against measles, mumps and rubella) are “reasonably justifiable in a democratic society.” The EU Convention on Human Rights was a document which was drawn upon in the drafting of the Bahamian Constitution, as well as other Caribbean Constitutions. Hence the ruling of the EU Court of Human Rights is at least “persuasive authority”, if not absolutely authoritative.

Further, existing Bahamian Law mandates employers to protect their employees and the general public. The Health and Safety at Work Act places several legal duties upon every employer. Section 4 of the Act mandates that employers maintain systems to protect the health and safety of every employee. Employers must ensure “the provision and maintenance of a working environment for his employees that is, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe, without risks to health…”. Section 5 mandates that employers maintain systems to protect the health and safety of any person entering their place of business, other than employees.

Further, the Health and Safety at Work Act imposes a duty on employees. Section 7 of the Act states the duty of an employee: “(a) to take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions at work; and (b) as regards any duty or requirement imposed on his employer or any other person by or under any of the relevant statutory provisions, to cooperate with him so far as is necessary to enable that duty or requirement to be performed or complied with”.

Now that a host of effective vaccines against the most virulent and deadly Pandemic in 100 years have been developed; which vaccines, apart from some statistically minimal side-effects, are extremely effective; employers and college administrators are well within their rights to insist upon mandatory vaccinations of staff, employees and students.

Any loss of life due to side-effects of vaccination is a terrible matter for the persons and families involved, no doubt; and should be deeply regretted. However, compared to the increasing virulence of mutant strains, the rising death toll and potentially harmful long-term consequence of COVID-19 infection, the risks associated with vaccinations are statistically miniscule in comparison.

It should be noted, however, that clinical trials for children under 18 are only now being conducted, and the results have not been disclosed. Until it is clear that vaccinating young children is safe, the choice should be left to parents or guardians.

In the workplace, however, it is a matter of the law of contract; but it is also a matter of the legal duty placed upon every employer – to protect both employees and the general public. There is also the legal duty placed upon every employee to cooperate in protecting fellow workers and the general public.

The science shows that COVID-19 is primarily spread, as an airborne disease, by asymptomatic carriers. With effective vaccines available, the elimination of the contagion can no longer be left to guess-work, and wishful thinking. Stronger measures may be required.

Just as Smallpox has been largely eradicated from the face of the Earth by mandatory vaccinations, so it is to be hoped that the Coronavirus can be eradicated by a system of mandatory vaccinations.

The only truly political issue is whether the government of The Bahamas will have the will to add COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of mandatory vaccinations: whether the government will “follow the science” or, instead, continue to appease the public hysteria induced by social media.

Yours Faithfully,

AFRICANUS

Nassau,

April 26, 2021

Comments

Chucky says...

Your Israel mention leaves out the fact that being vaccinated has made their population more at risk than in vaccinated people when it comes to the covid variants.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.market…

Posted 27 April 2021, 10:40 p.m. Suggest removal

thephoenix562 says...

Did you read and understand the whole article ?

Posted 28 April 2021, 8:59 a.m. Suggest removal

Liberal says...

He obviously didn't, since the article includes this expert quote: “Our results show reduced effectiveness against the [South African] variant only in a short window of time (7-13 days post-second dose) since all the breakthrough cases we saw were in this time frame,” Adi Stern, a professor at Tel Aviv University and one of the co-authors, said in an email.

Posted 28 April 2021, 11:28 a.m. Suggest removal

Liberal says...

I must admit that I am seriously concerned that there is far too much vaccine hesitancy here in the Bahamas. Even my own daughter and her husband won't take it. Can't they see the writing on the wall? Cases are gradually rising here, and with the heat coming on, people are closing their windows and turning on the a/c. A/c is a double whammy, since not only does it mean reduced ventilation with the windows closed - a known risk, it also means dry air, and that weakens the barrier provided by the mucus membranes in the nasal passages, so that they are more vulnerable to the virus. We know what is happening in India. They got too relaxed about the virus. It can happen here, and probably will if we don't get vaccinated. It is absolutely not something that one should put off until tomorrow. Please don't wait until there are people dying at the door to PMG, like stranded fish, gasping out their lives. (https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-n…)

Posted 28 April 2021, 11:43 a.m. Suggest removal

GodSpeed says...

Covid is a virus with a 99.9%+ survivability rate for most people, so turn off the MSNBC, ABC, CNN etc and relax "Liberal".

By the way here's a story of a woman that took the vaccine and got paralyzed, she's not the only one:

https://www.wsmv.com/news/woman-lies-pa…

Posted 28 April 2021, 6:28 p.m. Suggest removal

ohdrap4 says...

Lack of trust in authorities plays a huge part.
It was only a couple of days ago that they started using expressions such as "to the best of knowledge", or "the case is developing".

The medical community lost much of their regard by endorsing the lockdowns that caused financial harm to most people. People no longer trust their expertise.

I cannot help but think of an online community i belong to, where the users self rate. The gurus and experts actually rate themselves as "Advanced" because it has been observed that too many self appointed gurus and experts do not know what they are doing.

Posted 28 April 2021, 1:39 p.m. Suggest removal

themessenger says...

The saying used to be when you dumb you dangerous, now it’s when you dumb you dangerous and dead.
300,000 plus new cases of Covid per day in India and they don’t believe in vaccines and mask wearing either.
Go figure!

Posted 28 April 2021, 2:58 p.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

AFRICANUS sounds a lot like Carl Bethel or Alfred Sears. lol

Posted 28 April 2021, 4:54 p.m. Suggest removal

GodSpeed says...

Woman paralyzed after taking the Vaccine:

https://www.wsmv.com/news/woman-lies-pa…

Posted 28 April 2021, 6:25 p.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

Women need to worry a lot more about these vaccines than men.

Posted 28 April 2021, 7:06 p.m. Suggest removal

GodSpeed says...

apparently the vaccine can really screw you up if you've already had the virus like her and built up antibodies.

Posted 28 April 2021, 8:25 p.m. Suggest removal

Log in to comment