A vaccine mandate for the general public has been a hot topic of debate since vaccines were made available for the COVID-19 virus. The discussion mainly centers on the perceived violation of personal freedoms that comes with being forced to take a vaccine.
A Bioethics Professor at Western University, Maxwell Smith, says that the likelihood of a general vaccine mandate is low.
“Whether we would see…Ontario introduce a mandate that everybody in Ontario be vaccinated,” Smith says, explaining that the province already has many vaccine mandates in place, such as in long term care homes.
“[A general mandate] is less likely just because of what we’ve seen so far in the province of Ontario in terms of vaccine mandates.”
As for the benefits of such a mandate, the main one is clear. The hospitals are currently overwhelmed with Omicron variant cases.
“If you if you’re faced with that state of affairs, you quickly say, what do we need to do to reduce the number of people that require hospitalization.”
With so many hospitalizations, there are a ripple of effects. Nearly 10,000 surgeries are getting cancelled a week. Paramedics have no units to respond to 911 calls in certain parts of the province.
“It just so happens that vaccines happen to be one of the most effective if not the most effective tool at reducing one’s risk of becoming hospitalized.”
A policy like this could be seen as heavy handed however. People may believe it may infringe upon their liberties or freedoms.
“The real ethical question,” Smith explains, “is whether that infringement or harm that would be experienced by people who are unvaccinated and unwilling to be vaccinated, is outweighed by the harms done about what we would see happen if we didn’t put a mandate in place.”
Smith’s final statement was that the main thing the government and we as Canadian citizens need to think about in this discussion is the idea that with those rights that we have come responsibilities as well.
“If you feel that a particular policy that is meant to protect other people as an affront to your rights, we have to think about, well, do you have responsibilities as well, to protect the rights of other people?”
Regardless of your stance on mandatory vaccination, the responsibilities of us as Canadian citizens are to protect the health of our fellow Canadians.
“We can’t just pollute as much as we want. We can’t drive to work as fast as we want. We have to make sacrifices and not do some things because it’s the best interest of other people,” Smith says.
“I think if we think about that, we can have a little bit more of a nuanced conversation about the role of mandates in society.”
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