The Tribune

A colleague cum friend becomes apoplectic when discussing those refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, putting others, including family members, colleagues and strangers at risk of getting gravely sick or dying.

Such refusal by scores of individuals harms the greater good. In ethics, individual autonomy is important. But ethics also includes the moral and material needs of others. We are morally responsible and culpable for how our individual choices and behaviour affect others.

The public health and economic recovery of the world and The Bahamas depend on higher vaccination rates. Government and corporate leaders are at their wit’s end and fed up with those who are jeopardizing the needs of others because of their refusal to be vaccinated.

The twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda has a population of 97,000. Approximately 37.6 percent of the population is vaccinated, which is higher than the vaccination rate in The Bahamas.

The heavily tourism-dependent country is in dire economic straits and struggling to pay public sector workers, many of whom refuse to be vaccinated.

What is the moral and intellectual calculation and thought process of someone demanding that they continue to receive salaries from the government, while refusing to get vaccinated to help their country earn revenue to pay their salaries and benefits?

As noted in the Cayman Compass on September 20, Antigua and Barbuda’s cabinet: “Agreed that all unvaccinated government workers, including those in the public service, statutory corporations and companies in which the government owns majority shares, are required to remain at home…until proof of vaccination is provided.”

SALARIES CEASE

The government decided that the “salaries and wages of unvaccinated government employees will cease from 1 October until they comply with vaccination requirements”.

Prior to the announcement, public sector employees had a choice between being vaccinated or getting tested twice a month.

But with mounting deaths and an increase in infections, combined with a lack of testing kits and the necessary staff to administer a high number of tests, the government decided that urgent and new mandates were necessary.

The vaccine mandates/requirements state that only teachers and eligible students who are vaccinated may return to in-person learning. All officers and support staff of the Antigua and Barbuda police and defence forces must be vaccinated.

So too caregivers and staff at elder care facilities, as well as bus drivers, conductors and taxi drivers. Those transport workers who refuse to be vaccinated will not be allowed to operate.

The country now has some of the strictest mandates in the region. The Antigua Observer quoted Prime Minister Gaston Browne: “These mandates are designed to protect the entire population... I believe that, on the basis that these mandates are respected, Antigua and Barbuda will be well on its way to achieve herd immunity before the end of the year.

“The mandates will not stop at what we agreed to [in Cabinet], because if we do not achieve herd immunity in the next few months, then additional mandates will be introduced.”

There are exemptions to the mandate for health, religious and other approved reasons. Following the government’s announcement, over 700 people rushed to the only vaccination clinic operating on that day. The government also announced a host of new restrictions.

UNDISCIPLINED

Left to themselves, human beings are often undisciplined and cavalier in following rules. The human desire for socialising often trumps common sense. How many people have now died at home and abroad because they went partying, liming or socialising? Euphoria and celebration have led to many people getting sick and dying.

Bahamians are often a very slack people. But when required to do something we often fall in line quickly. Faced with relatives and friends dying during the recent surge, coupled with a requirement of vaccination to travel to the United States as of November, Bahamians flocked to vaccination centres.

Early in August, Chicago-based United Airlines announced that it was requiring all of its 67,000 US-based employees to be vaccinated. At the time of the announcement, 80 percent of flight attendants and 90 percent of pilots were already vaccinated.

But for the smaller percentage of employees who refused to be vaccinated or requested a religious or medical exemption, the carrier decided to place these employees on unpaid leave. This matter is now before the courts.

Other airlines have followed United’s lead, including Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue. Workplaces requiring vaccines in the US are experiencing vaccination rates of 90 percent or higher. In these environments, even the more hesitant are getting vaccinated.

Various workplaces in The Bahamas, especially in our vital tourism industry, have given employees the choice between getting vaccinated or being tested on a weekly or regular basis. Some are now requiring their employees to pay for the tests.

One union leader described the requirements at a leading resort as akin to slavery. To compare life-saving measures to the perniciousness of the slave trade is absurd and asinine. Sadly, it is speaks to the abysmally poor quality of some union leaders.

PANDERING

Too many union leaders are pandering instead of leading. They are playing a dangerous game. Our tourism economy remains at risk if we fail to increase our vaccination rates.

Moreover, their members are at risk of becoming ill or dying. Already, a number of those in the tourism sector, including tour drivers, have already died. More tourism workers will die. Union leaders have a moral obligation to explain to members why vaccinations are critical.

In various jurisdictions in the United States, there are strict proof-of-vaccine ordinances for restaurants and other establishments. In Los Angeles County, public employees were required to be vaccinated by October 1.

At the beginning of 2021, only 34 percent of adult Americans were eager to get vaccinated. As of October, 78 percent of adults have gotten at least one shot. More than 185 million Americans are vaccinated.

The vaccination campaigns in the US have, according to an October 7 White House report, “saved over 100,000 lives and prevented 450,000 hospitalisations.”

The report, entitled “Vaccination Requirements Are Helping Vaccinate More People, Protect Americans from COVID-19, and Strengthen the Economy”, notes that additional action must be taken to vaccinate tens of millions who remain unvaccinated.

A critical part of this are new vaccination requirements proposed by the federal government intended to get 100 million more Americans vaccinated.

Arguing for these mandates, which are termed “requirements”, the White House plan, which may be found at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Vaccination-Requirements-Report.pdf, notes: “Vaccination requirements have increased vaccination rates by 20+ percentage points to over 90% in many organisations [and] vaccination requirements have already helped cut the rate of unvaccinated Americans by one-third.”

University of Michigan economist Justin Wolfers states in the report: “Viewing [President] Biden’s vaccine mandate as simply economic policy, it’s surely the cheapest and most powerful economic stimulus ever enacted.”

In early October, a groundbreaking malaria vaccination was announced. The World Health Organization (WHO) quickly recommended the vaccine for children in sub-Saharan Africa and other regions with high to moderate “P. falciparum malaria transmission”. In 2019 alone, 409 000 people died from malaria.

What was telling and disturbing is those parents interviewed in Africa who said they would have their children immediately vaccinated against malaria but who themselves are still reluctant to take a COVID-19 vaccine.

Does this sound familiar? Here at home, children are required for entry to schools to be vaccinated for a host of diseases, with parents complying. These vaccine mandates have saved thousands of lives in The Bahamas, including many adults now refusing a COVID-19 vaccine.

If we refuse to put in place COVID-19 vaccine requirements, the number of deaths will increase, with the disease making ill or killing those who steadfastly refuse to be vaccinated.

The pandemic will linger. There is going to be considerably more avoidable sickness and new surges. Many of those still unreasonably refusing a vaccine for now unintelligible reasons are proving irrational and are acting in a suicidal manner, with the possibility of death on the horizon.

If they wish to put their own lives at risk, despite an available free and safe vaccine, that is their tragic choice.

But, they do not have the right to selfishly and arrogantly put the lives of others at risk. A moral society has the duty and the obligation to protect the greater and moral good through vaccine mandates and requirements.