a) The morality of mandatory Covid-19 vaccination and its social and political consequences.

THE MORALITY OF MANDATORY COVID-19 VACCINATION

AND ITS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES

P O R : E D N A S O F Í A C A S T A Ñ E D A H E R N Á N D E Z

I N T E R N A T I O N A L R E L A T I O N S S T U D E N T A T U N I V E R S I D A D A N Á H U A C M É X I C O , I N 6 T H S E M E S T E R .

E M A I L : E D N A . C A S T A N E D A H E @ A N A H U A C . M X I N S T A G R A M : E B S O F I C H R

Abstract: This article analyzes the current debate around the morality of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and its social and political consequences around the globe. Explains the arguments that experts use to justify the righteousness of mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, stating that it is the moral thing to do as it grants the safety of everyone. Mandatory vaccination has also caused political and civil unrest in Canada and the United States. People claim that vaccination should be a personal choice and that making it mandatory violates human rights. Both postures will be stated and analyzed through examples of implemented measures worldwide.

Key words:covid-19, anti-vax, morality, pandemic, human rights, fines, policies, liberty. heT world is constantly changing, which is part of our human history. Humanity has seen civilizations fall, animals go extinct, the rise of empires, the change of governments, and the appearance of new diseases. Historically, mankind has dealt with various pandemics that have caused significant devastations to our human civilization. First, the Bubonic Plague killed around one-third of the population of Europe in the fourteenth century. Second, the Spanish Flu pandemic eliminated approximately 50 million people in 1918. Third, the COVID-19 pandemic has killed around 5.91 million people (Albrecht, 2022).

When COVID-19 first appeared, there was a specific relief that new technologies, experiences, and medicines would diminish the extent of this pandemic, and the world would recover much faster than the way it had occurred before. Hence, the scientific research had to develop a safe and effective vaccine in record time, and by December 2020, the first vaccines were delivered. Thus far, studies have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and can diminish the pandemic (Albrecht, 2022).

However, as COVID-19 cases continued to grow, so did the opposition to its vaccine. Social media, television, and influencers presented faulty statements around the vaccination. The arguments are that the booster injection can alter DNA, that the Government is injecting microchips into people to control and monitor them, and that it can negatively impact fertility. On the other hand, some individuals oppose them due to religious beliefs, false claims, and ignorance (Albrecht, 2022).

The opposition to vaccination, especially the COVID-19 vaccine, has become more organized and is affecting the health of many people. In addition, pre-existing societal tensions usually fuel the movement. As stated by Dr. Larrson (2022):

The Anti-vaccine movement has grown more than before due to the internet and social media.

“The way that anti-vaccination movements harness popular anger has to do with what tension is already underlying in society. The leaders often recognize a preexisting tension, they want to get rid of vaccines, so they use that tension to do that… there’s a serious anti-vaccine movement in eastern Europe. We’re seeing very polarized politics across a lot of the world, and it's being funneled and directed actively by individuals who lead the anti-vax movement. They ’re using those divisions on purpose (Blackall, 2022). ”

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield and 12 of his colleagues published an article in the Lancet, which suggested a direct correlation between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism. This research was found faulty, and the article got retracted in 2010. The problem is that many people believed this to be accurate and became more reluctant towards vaccines and vaccination rates began to drop (Albrecht, 2022).

The "anti-vax" trend around the COVID-19 vaccine has been growing globally. The movement is motivated by celebrities who support the anti-vaccine idea, such as Nicki Minaj, Letitia Wright, Rob Schneider, Anwar Hadid, and Novak Djokovic (Cohen, 2022). Along with this, political figures, like former U.S. President Donald Trump, current Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and Jair Bolsonaro, president of Brazil, have made the health problem political. Consequently, vaccination rates are declining worldwide, and the pandemic has continued to grow (Albrecht, 2022). Many people believe that choosing to get vaccinated should be a personal choice and that the Government should not mandate it. Hence, many civilians are refusing the vaccination. The policies around immunization are constantly changing. For example, on December 9, 2021, the Austrian Government laid a bill before the parliament to impose a mandatory vaccination for all its residents. The Greek prime minister also announced that it would impose fines on residents aged 60 years and older who would not take the COVID-19 vaccination. Numerous nations are implementing similar policies or have adopted specific mandates in the workplace and school settings, such as Brazil, Canada, France, Australia, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Indonesia (King, Ferraz & Jones, 2021).

According to the scientific article (2021), Rates of SARS-CoV2 transmission and vaccination impact the fate of vaccineresistant strains published in Nature, the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal. The best available solution for controlling the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic are vaccines .

However, vaccination rates are declining in certain countries, increasing the pandemic. First, there are a limited number of shots in developing countries, and only certain parts of the population have been able to receive the booster dose. An example of this would be Mexico, in which corruption, poor management of the pandemic, and a limited number of vaccines caused the death of an estimated 330,002 thousand people (Conacyt, 2022). On the other hand, in developed countries, the

major impediment has been the large numbers of people choosing not to be vaccinated, despite health and government advice. For example, in France, the "anti-vax" movement has been growing, and several people choose not to get vaccinated because they think it violates their freedom (Amiel, 2021). Thus, due to the weakening number of vaccinations worldwide, experts question whether to impose mandatory vaccination requirements in many countries (King, 2021).

Hence, the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine has caused controversy worldwide, with many people questioning the morality of this decision and others claiming that it is the moral thing to do, as it ensures the safety of everyone around the world. Certain people resist getting the vaccine because such mandates could decrease healthcare staffing levels or morale. The United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, stated that he considered mandatory vaccination “ unethical" in an interview with the BBC on December 10, 2021. Others believe that mandatory vaccination violates human rights (King et al., 2021).

Under the most libertarian definition of liberty, certain philosophers and jurists agree that restrictions on liberty can be justified if they prevent harm to others. Following this idea, the European Convention on Human Rights recognizes on article 8th that the right to physical integrity is a "qualified right" that can be limited to protect health. Therefore, if mandatory vaccination aims to reduce harm to others and protect the health of its citizens, it would not be a violation of human rights (King et al., 2021).

Additionall y to liberty, other aspects play an essential role in accomplishing Human Rights, such as economics, social, work, and education. They all have been recognized under international law since 1948. In the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its 2013 Global Vaccine Action Plan, the WHO reinforced the statement that "immunization is, and should be recognized as a core component of the human right to health and an individual, community and governmental responsibility" . Article 12th says that "the prevention, treatment, and control of epidemic… diseases" are among the obligations of the right to health (King et al., 2021). Mandatory vaccination is not new; this policy already exists in many countries. Certain schools require com-

pulsory immunization for measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, and polio for the children that want to enroll. Some countries like Chile, Israel, Mexico, Norway, Spain, Germany, and several states in the United States had pre-pandemic laws that granted the government legal authority to impose vaccination mandates against COVID-19. Hence, according to international courts, a mandatory vaccination policy does not violate any general right to liberty because it protects public health and safeguards the right to health (King et al., 2021).

Nevertheless, even though mandatory vaccinations do not go against Human Rights, they interfere with fundamental rights. The difference between them is that fundamental rights are used in a constitutional context, whereas Human Rights is used in international law (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2020). Thus, governments, employers, and schools must be cautious when implementing these policies. The Lex-Atlas: Covid-19 (LAC19) project, led by UCL, Kings College London, and the Max Planck Institute of Comparative Public Law and International Law, seeks to analyze legal responses of Covid-19 vaccines (2021). They have laid the LAC19 principles in which they recommend that mandatory vaccination schemes must be prescribed by law that is clear and must only be adopted after consultation (King, 2021).

Mandatory vaccinations should be regulated by statute and not executive rules. The making of these laws should undergo a consultation period of at least 4-6 weeks. They should also involve subnational governments, opposition parties, trade unions, experts, the public, and others, and there must always be room for debate and amendments. Furthermore, the vaccination scheme should have a legitimate aim, for example, reducing virus transmission or protecting health services. Vaccination schemes must also ensure the legal principle of proportionality. Thus, the means chosen must be rationally connected to the aim. There must also be no other less-impairing means of achieving the limitation of the virus. Finally, the punishments and fines implemented for the people choosing not to comply with the mandate must be effective but not too oppressive. Otherwise, governments can break the rule of proportionality (King et al., 2021).

The LAC19 Principles have also set a constructive engagement with vaccine-hesitant people. The principles have stated that the Vaccine hesitancy must be reasonable. For example, specific communities have historically been subject to state-complicit persecution, discrimination, marginalization, and neglect. An example of this would be the Native American communities across the U.S. that face disproportionate rates of COVID-19 infection and hospitalizations (King et al., 2021).

They have been reluctant to get vaccinated because of longstanding inequalities caused by federal neglect and marginalization (Sanchez & Foxworth, 2021). In cases like this, the nation should adopt constructive interventions with these groups and help them feel confident and know what getting the vaccine would do. There are also medical exemptions that must be considered under mandatory vaccination. On the other hand, according to Human Rights law, exemptions for religious beliefs or freedom of conscience are not generally required (King et al., 2021).

Nations have made COVID-19 shots mandatory for health workers, high-risk groups, public servants, and other workers. Especially now, due to the increase of the Delta variant and the Omicron variant. Here are some examples of several countries implementing these measures. In Ecuador, vaccination is compulsory for all adults except for people who have a relevant medical condition or incapability. Germany would make vaccination mandatory for all adults from February. In Indonesia, all adults must be vaccinated, and if they refuse, they can be fined or denied social assistance and government services. This binding vaccination for adults is also being implemented in Micronesia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan (Reuters, 2021).

However, certain countries only implement mandatory vaccinations for government employees and public and private sector workers. Such as Canada, where all federally regulated workplaces must implement compulsory vaccination in 2022. In France, public officials like civil security pilots, flight personnel providing care for victims, soldiers permanently assigned to civil security missions, and firefighters must be vaccinated. In the United States, following the policies proposed by the Biden administration requiring most federal employees to get COVID19 vaccination and demanding that companies have their workers inoculated or tested weekly, this measure would apply to two-thirds of all U.S. employees (Reuters, 2021).

Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines have also caused certain people's political, civil, and economic instabilities. Such is the case of a man in North Carolina who is denied a life-saving kidney transplant despite different offers from 100 donors. All of this is because he refuses to get a COVID-19 vaccine that is mandatory for the operation. His name is Chad Carswell, an Air Force veteran. He is 38 and believes that getting the vaccine should be a personal choice and that vaccinations do not prevent the infection (Manno, 2022).

Chad has stated that he has had COVID-19 twice, and therefore he has developed natural antibodies. Carswell has had six heart attacks and is a double amputee. His kidney is also operating at four percent capacity, and he has dialysis. Chad has 100 donors for a kidney transplant. However, the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem mandates that transplant candidates must be vaccinated following the current standard care in the U.S. In an interview with the daily mail, Carswell (2022) said what he told the doctors when they urged him to get the vaccine "It wasn't up for debate, I wasn't getting it. And he told me, You know you'll die if you don't get it, and I told him I'm willing to die. I was born free. I will die free. I'm not changing my mind" (Manno, 2022).

In Canada, protests have been going on refusing compulsory vaccination. In January, truck drivers occupied parts of Ottowa and blocked the country's most vital trade route to the U.S. to protest the Covid-19 restrictions. They have been known as the "Freedom Convoy" . This protest has turned into a broader movement of the far-right. Some protesters have been seen waving Confederate and Nazi flags (Ward, 2022). Several U.S. politicians have praised the truckers as advocates for freedom. This movement began after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandated that truckers traveling to Canada from the United States must be vaccinated. The Canadian Prime Minister also stated that "the truckers are a fringe minority, and they do not align with Canadian views" . The protest expanded to Toronto, Quebec City, Calgary, and the Ambassador bridge that connects Windsor, Canada, to Detroit in the U.S. (Ward, 2022).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act (1988) in response to these protests. This measure was last used in 1970 by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. The Emergency Act would give Trudeau the power to deploy more federal law enforcement and cut off truckers' funding by labeling them as "terrorists" it can also limit certain civil rights. This measure is intended to stop the protest that has shocked the country. For The New York Times magazine, Prime Minister Trudeau has stated, "This is not a peaceful protest. We will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue. The act was a last resort. The time to go home is now" (Austen, 2022).

Conclusion

This problem involves many issues, and it alters the lives of every human being. COVID-19 has become a problem surrounding economy, politics, health, countries, and morality. Therefore, whether it is moral that there is a mandatory COVID19 vaccination has many answers. For some experts, it is righteous because certain rights can be limited to secure a greater good that can protect health and reduce harm to others. For others, this compulsory vaccination violates freedom and human rights. Historically, there has always been a hesitancy towards vaccination due to personal beliefs, religion, neglect, diseases, and misinformation.

Although one thing is sure the world is undergoing constant change as COVID-19 continues to grow, so do anti-vaccine movements, as we have seen in Canada, The United States, and worldwide. These movements have been fueled by political agendas, celebrities, and social media. In the end, people continue to die, the economy suffers, and the pandemic grows. Thus, nations must invest in education and enhance measures that guarantee that everyone can feel safe no matter what. Countries must unite to tackle the real enemy, which is COVID19.

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