A guest post by Arky
From around the web:
September:
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison told 3AW a vaccine would be “as mandatory as you can possibly make it” there was an immediate backlash from some groups.
Mr Morrison even went so far as to suggest the grounds by which exemptions should be granted.
“There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis,” he said.
A few hours later, talking on 2GB, Mr Morrison made a sharp departure from his earlier comments, ruling out a compulsory vaccine.
“It’s not going to be compulsory to have the vaccine,” he said.
November:
The vaccine will not be mandatory and individuals will maintain the option to choose not to vaccinate. The vaccine will be available for free to those who choose to be vaccinated.
-ABC
January:
Residents and workers in aged care facilities will not be required to get a vaccination in order to remain living or working there, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says.
..
June:
Vaccinations will become mandatory for aged care workers, the Prime Minister has announced.
Scott Morrison said the decision was made at the emergency National Cabinet meeting between state and territory leaders on Monday night.
August:
The Commonwealth’s deadline for all workers in the aged care sector to be vaccinated is in mid-September.
The Prime Minister said the “important principle” of the national vaccine roll out was that the jab would be free and not mandatory.“We are not going to seek to impose a mandatory vaccination program by the government by stealth,” he said.
Last Friday, Mr Morrison outlined the options available to private businesses to enforce a vaccine mandate, which he reassured were existing powers under current legislation.
And:
The Therapeutic Goods Administration, July:
Death related to TTS
A 72-year-old woman from South Australia has sadly died after developing TTS following vaccination with her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. The TGA extends its sincerest condolences to her family and loved ones.
TTS cases to date
Since last week’s report, a further seven reports of blood clots and low blood platelets have been assessed as confirmed or probable TTS likely to be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine. One of the cases reported this week is critically unwell in intensive care.
..
In summary:
When an individual takes a treatment that has a risk of death or disability and something subsequently goes wrong, as long as the individual was fully informed and every care was taken, that individual is responsible for their own misfortune.
When a government mandates a treatment that it knows will result in death and disability for a portion of those having the treatment a line is crossed. An important line, one that puts those enforcing the mandate in a position that is likely to lead to cynicism and callous disregard for individual deaths. In a large bureaucratic system, that’s what happens. It’s why we only do so in the case, usually, of war.
If this is a war, who are we at war with? And don’t tell me it’s a war against a virus. Wars are against people. Not viruses or “terror”. So who are the actual humans we are at war with if we are taking wartime measures? Is it, like with the war on terror, that it is again impolite to say who this war is against?
Something furthermore should be said about the deliberate move of risk from older people to younger people. Because that is the effect of mandating vaccines for everyone when the vaccine might kill a younger person, but the virus mainly kills older people. If the government knows something about the origins and likely course of this pathogen that leads it to believe that younger people might in the near future be at more risk from it, they should make that information clearly known.
