UCC philosophy boffin Vittorio Bufacchi (above) says ‘herd immunity must be fairly shared among the individual members of the morally responsible collective’
This morning/afternoon.
Via Dr Vittorio Bufacchi, a senior lecturer in Philosophy at University College Cork, in the Irish Times:
‘…Contrary to what the anti-vax movement is declaring, mandatory vaccinations are not an infringement of our basic rights. One’s right to choose not to be vaccinated is being respected, although this right does not give anyone the licence to put others at risk.
‘Under mandatory vaccination a person maintains the right not to be vaccinated, but does not enjoy the right that puts others under a duty to allow unvaccinated people into their restaurants, pubs, or work environments. In certain circumstances this may extend to losing one’s job.
‘…there is a strong case for vaccination to be mandatory, at least in theory. That is because the principle of fairness requires that the burden to reach herd immunity be fairly shared among the individual members of the morally responsible collective.’
He adds:
‘Mandatory vaccinations could be as minimal as stipulating a longer isolation period for the non-vaxxed, or at the other end of the spectrum legislation could be introduced so that those whose elective surgery has been postponed can take a civil case against those who refused vaccination but ended up in hospital due to Covid-19.
Somewhere in the middle there is the option of making pubs and stadiums out of bounds to anti-vaxxers – that’s probably what would hurt them the most.
Yikes.
Mandatory vaccination not the same as compulsory (Vittorio Bufacch, Irish Times)
RTE/RollingNews
Meanwhile…
