Should the Covid vaccine be mandatory?

[Flavour]

We've all watched in horror as the increasingly insane anti-vax conspiraloon train chugs relentlessly forward.

We all know that the vaccine has drastically reduced hospitalization and death rates, even when cases have remained relatively high.

But how does urban feel about making the vaccine mandatory?

I'm just about at the point where I feel like maybe it should be. The unvaccinated are a reservoir for new variants and will allow this thing to go ahead infinitely.

Yes: I know the whole world needs to be vaccinated before we can be safe. But if possible I'd like to leave that aside as it's not "one or the other", vaccine nationalism and so on.

I'm saying should there be penalties for people who refuse to get vaccinated? And if yes, what should those penalties be? If not, why not?

And if it were to be mandatory, what insurance should the government offer to people potentially made ill/killed by the vaccine?

 

[elbows]

I dont think the current vaccines prevent infection enough for me to consider mandatory vaccination as being worth all the ill-feeling it would create. And plenty of the hospital admissions which strain the health system involve people who have been vaccinated.

But I can certainly see why its still an appealing idea to some when it comes to people in certain roles. I tend to be rather unhappy with the number of care staff and NHS staff who havent been vaccinated.

I dont believe in relying 100% on vaccines instead of still doing some other things to reduce infections. I dont think vaccines can carry all the pandemic weight on their own, even with very high levels of uptake, so I'd favour action on those other fronts as a much higher priority.

edit - so I voted no for now.

 

[spring-peeper]

Interesting - not public.

I suppose that will stop people being harassed for their opinion.

 

[StoneRoad]

I've voted "Don't Know"

For similar reasons to those expressed so eloquently by elbows !

If the vaccines were more effective at preventing transmission, in particular, for longer periods, then that would tend to send me towards a mandate as there would be a better chance at elimination.

Additionally, even with the existing vaccines, I think for certain key worker roles (eg health & social care, education, transport) it should be mandatory.

 

[Saul Goodman]

No, you fucking Nazi bastard!

 

[xenon]

no. being unvaccinated with no good medical reason, should probably preclude you from certain jobs. But that shouldn’t mean it is mandatory for everyone to take the vaccine. In the same way that being drunk should preclude you from being a bus driver. But you’re still perfectly free to get pissed.

 

[Supine]

Absolutely not. But I’m ok with soft measures like a requirement to be vaccinated for holidays, jobs etc.

 

[Wolveryeti]

I think mandatory vaccines would be a propaganda godsend for the anti-vaxxers (if it's so obviously good for you then why are they having to force it on everyone?).

Positive incentives and information are the only sensible way to get a higher vax rate.

 

[Yossarian]

Mandatory for work, school, travel, eating inside restaurants etc. seems effective, a blanket mandate for everybody might be a step too far.

 

[DotCommunist]

Mandatory for work means mandatory if you don't have independent wealth or like being homeless, unless we assume the enlightened regime of Coffey is going to allow people to go on UC indefinitely due to vaccine objections.

 

[spring-peeper]

Mandatory for work means something else for me.

If you work in a job that requires vaccines or the 'flu shot, then being told to take the covid vaccine should not come as a surprise.

 

[discokermit]

fuck mandatory.

 

[GastroPub]

Instead of forcing people to get injections and having this big fight about it, why not have passenger planes drop it onto people

 

[spring-peeper]

Instead of forcing people to get injections and having this big fight about it, why not have passenger planes drop it onto people

But, what if you are already vaccinated....


How will I react to the airborne vaccines?

 

[Aladdin]

I wonder if the gov offerred people £1000...to get the covid vaccine, would a lot of those hesitant people get vaccinated?
I'm quite cynical so I'd say they probably would .

 

[farmerbarleymow]

No problem with mandating the vaccine (with obvious exceptions for those who can't have it for medical reasons). Maybe hire teams of crack darts players to deal with those who refuse to get vaccinated - would be a good spectator sport.

 

[cupid_stunt]

No, for all the reasons already given above.

I would like it to be mandatory for health & care workers, but I fear it could result in even higher levels of staff shortages.

 

[mojo pixy]

If you work in a job that requires vaccines or the 'flu shot,

Which jobs are these? (Prior to the new measures introduced for care workers I mean)

 

[andysays]

I wonder if the gov offerred people £1000...to get the covid vaccine, would a lot of those hesitant people get vaccinated?
I'm quite cynical so I'd say they probably would .

Would I be able to take my completed vaccination card somewhere and get my £1000 retrospectively?

 

[mojo pixy]

I would like it to be mandatory for health & care workers, but I fear it could result in even higher levels of staff shortages.

For this government, running health and social care into the ground is already basically policy. So if compulsory medical treatments help with that objective by pushing out staff and kicking morale, so much the better.

I haven't met any H&C workers who are in favour of this measure** , mainly people seem to tolerate it, because they don't want to lose their job. I've met a few who think it should be mandatory for everyone. Others who are quitting. But support for vaccinating just one sector mainly seems to be coming from people who it doesn't apply to. Unions (GMB and Unison) don't support it either.

(** obviously this is anecdotal, there may be tons of care workers who agree with compulsion, I'm just not meeting them in my work. Just people who put up with it, to keep their job.)

 

[girasol]

The only thing making it mandatory will achieve is anger and riots. As it has happened in the past, in Rio. (I hight recommend reading this, it's quite interesting)

Vaccine Revolt - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I do, however, wish everyone who can get would get it.

 

[scifisam]

No, for all the reasons already given above.

I would like it to be mandatory for health & care workers, but I fear it could result in even higher levels of staff shortages.

Yup.

 

[Aladdin]

Would I be able to take my completed vaccination card somewhere and get my £1000 retrospectively?

Absolutely

 

[Badgers]

No, for all the reasons already given above.

I would like it to be mandatory for health & care workers, but I fear it could result in even higher levels of staff shortages.

Not teachers? School cleaners?

 

[cupid_stunt]

Not teachers? School cleaners?

Perhaps teachers, but not cleaners that tend to come in after the kids have gone home.

 

[Badgers]

Perhaps teachers, but not cleaners that tend to come in after the kids have gone home.

Dinner ladies?
Classroom assistants?

 

[Aladdin]

I think that we also need to remember that there are people who cannot be fully vaccinated....who have had severe reactions to one jab and are advised not to get any further vaccine.

But in general I think anyone working closely with the public should be vaccinated. For everyone's safety including their own.
That may well boil down to mandatory vaccinationin certain jobs..and if a person refuses they may be redeployed to a role that does not require them to work closely with the public.

 

[Badgers]

Supermarket workers?
Community Centre staff?
Football coaches?
Police?
Fire Staff?
Soldiers?
Chefs?

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Similar to others I wouldn't be comfortable with mandatory vaccines for all. Even aside from the ethics of it it doesn't seem like a productive use of resources to be hauling refusers off the street and forcibly vaccinating them, the benefits in terms of fighting the virus don't seem likely to be anywhere near worth that. I don't have any problem with vaccination being mandatory for specific things though, on a case by case basis.

And I'd quite like to see the anti-vax types forcibly cleared from outside hospitals etc to be honest.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Instead of forcing people to get injections and having this big fight about it, why not have passenger planes drop it onto people

I'm not really fancying being caught out in a needle shower.