The Austrian flag; David Langwallner

This afternoon.

Further to Austria’s decision to make COVID-19 vaccines ‘mandatory by law’ and implement a full national lockdown starting Monday…

…Austro-Irish human rights lawyer David Langwallner writes:

1) This is a worrying extension of control and compliance and in breach of Article 8 (privacy rights). It is the negation of choice and a slippery slope and should not be followed in other countries.

2) This further accentuates a growing apartheid of people based on legitimate disgareement and concerns.

3) The Austrian right-wing People’s Party, though not a fascist party, are displaying deeply authoritarian tendencies.

4) Noticeably, the sensible Austrian people, by not taking up the vaccine in sufficient numbers, have displayed a degree of scepticism and doubt.

5) How do you enforce compulsory vaccination. By force? by internment? by imprisonment? By quarantine of the unvaccinated? By a round up? This creates all sorts of civil liberties issues and, for some Austrians, is history repeating.

David Langwallner is a barrister specialising in public law, immigration, housing and criminal defence including miscarriages of justice.

Earlier: No, Vienna!

Previously: David Langwallner: The Austrian Mind

Last night.

BBC Question Time.

Via The National:

The outrage focused on a discussion around the experiences of racism described to MPs by former Yorkshire cricketer Azeem Rafiq.

When talking about the issue on the BBC, Peterson twice used “air quotes” around the word “racism” – a choice questioned by SNP MP Stephen Flynn.

Peterson said: “‘Racism’ is a global and vague term.”

He was then interrupted by Flynn, who asked what he’d meant by the use of the air quotes around the term racism.

“Why would you possibly do that? What did that mean?” Flynn asked, adding: “The inverted commas as if it’s not a real thing?”

Peterson answered: “That isn’t what it meant. It meant that it’s indicative of low-resolution thinking.”

BBC: Jordan Peterson questioned after Question Time ‘racism’ discussion (The National)

Meanwhile…

This morning/afternoon.

Dublin city centre.

Black Friday is next Friday.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

Or is it?

Via Irish Times Letters:

Black Friday originated in the US as the day following Thanksgiving, which is always on the fourth Thursday in November. For US citizens it is one of the few times in the year when they can have four whole days off work. With the result, shopping malls are overcrowded and the traffic jams have to be seen to be believed. As a result, the shops have sales with hyped-up advertising leading to the actual day.

In Ireland, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving; it is an American celebration, one which we observe from afar.

So how on earth can we have “Black Friday” sales here for most of November when we don’t have Thanksgiving or a four-day holiday? Is it just an opportunity for shops to off-load out-of-date stock?

Or are the shops covering their rear ends in case there is a Covid lockdown in December?

Tony Corcoran,

Rathfarnham.

Irish Times Letters

RollingNews

A vaccination centre in Vienna, Austria

This morning.

Via Sky News:

Austria is to become the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory by law and has announced a full national lockdown from Monday, amid a fourth wave sweeping the continent.

Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said the coronavirus lockdown would run for a “maximum of 20 days”.

He also announced it would be a “requirement to get vaccinated” in Austria from 1 February.

COVID-19: Austria to enter full national lockdown amid record case surge (Sky News)

Pic: Sky

Revellers queue for Copper Face Jacks, Dublin last month

This morning.

In the Irish Times:

Olga Cronin (Olga!), of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, writes:

To assess the proportionality of the Covid pass system, evidence must be established to demonstrate both effectiveness and assess the negative impact on rights. These tests, to ensure compliance with human rights, can be determined only by regular review of the system.

Since its introduction in July 2021, there has not been any such review or any evidence seen of the extent to which the Covid pass system has curbed Covid-19.

Vaccines are not mandatory in Ireland. To mandate them would raise serious ethical and legal questions about consent. As such, enforcing a vaccine passport disproportionately affects the fundamental rights of those unvaccinated.

Crucially, unlike many other EU countries, Ireland’s vaccine passport does not include an option for negative testing. This omission is particularly perplexing given our extremely high vaccination rate, and the fact that the underpinning legislation provides for the possibility that testing could be included in the system.

Although there are varying levels of vaccination across different jurisdictions, Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Luxembourg, Galicia and Canary Islands in Spain, and France all include testing where access restrictions are imposed based on health status. When Denmark used a pass, it included testing. The Israeli system includes a 72-hour pass via testing.

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) wrote to the Government in August to ask if and when this would be given effect. We have not received a response.

Including a testing option provides the least restrictive or infringing measure on people’s right to decide not to be vaccinated. It also provides for people who cannot receive the vaccination. It’s one of the reasons why testing was included in the EU digital Covid certificate.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly was wrong when he told the Dáil in July when passing the Bill underpinning the cert that “the entire EU digital Covid certificate is based on vaccination status”.

The very regulation underpinning the EU certificate states:

“It is necessary to prevent direct or indirect discrimination against persons who are not vaccinated, for example, because of medical reasons, because they are not part of the target group for which the Covid-19 vaccine is currently administered or allowed, such as children, or because they have not yet had the opportunity or choose not to be vaccinated.”

Indeed, the inclusion of testing was one of the main reasons the supreme court in Spain and the constitutional court in France ruled in favour of permitting such systems for a limited period in Galicia and France….[more at link below]

Negative tests should be included in Covid pass (Olga Cronin, Irish Times)

RollingNews

From top: Trinity College; Bríd Ní Ghoibín (left) and Inés Lonergan

This morning.

Bríd Ní Ghoibín and Inés Lonergan write:

We are two second year healthcare students training as a midwife and physiotherapist respectively, at Trinity College Dublin.

Healthcare students have been told by Trinity College that they cannot complete their clinical placement unless they provide proof of vaccination.

We are in the middle of our degrees. Now, we are being told that we must either prove that we have received a Covid-19 vaccine or risk bidding farewell to our career dreams, degrees, and all the hard work and savings already invested in them.

Clinical placement is a core part of our training, without which we cannot qualify as a midwife or physiotherapist.We were told by our university that all options would be explored in order to facilitate us going on placement, only to be later given an ultimatum: take the vaccine or risk losing your career.

We have offered to take part in routine testing for COVID-19, to wear additional PPE beyond what is required, and are open to whatever other non-pharmaceutical measures that could help mitigate any risk posed to patients but to no avail. Professor Martin Cormican, Clinical Lead of the HSE’s Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control team, has refused to meet with students to discuss measures to ensure that unvaccinated students can proceed with placement safely.

We intend to challenge these discriminatory and unjust policies at the High Court. This is the start of a journey. We wish to pave the way so that other students don’t have to endure the same inequality and maltreatment that we currently face.

Please consider donating to help us cover the costs associated with our legal action to challenge the divisive and unethical policies of the HSE and universities.

Students Challenge University Vaccine Pass Policy (GoFundMe)

Broadsheet.ie