ON MANDATORY VACCINATION

I'm against mandatory vaccination for vaccines without long-term studies, but as many countries are talking about mandatory vaccination, a few considerations.

(thread)

1/ There are not enough doses to mandate vaccination for everyone in a country, not in 2021.

Therefore, countries that do decide to mandate vaccination will have to prioritize, and only mandate it for some categories of people.

How to prioritize?

2/ We vaccinate individuals for two reason. To protect them, and to protect their contacts.

As a government, it only makes sense to enforce the latter.

3/ Therefore, it should look for categories that are routinely exposed to prolonged contact with many people

Healthcare workers and students are two such categories that come to my mind

The elderly are not. If we think beyond next week, what matters is spread, not vulnerability

4/ Before someone misreads me:
- I'm against mandated vaccines
- The above doesn't mean that the elderly shouldn't have access to the vaccine, if they so desire
- It's just a consideration for how mandated vaccination should proceed, in the event a country goes for it

5/ Then again, I am against mandated vaccination in the absence of long-term studies.

But because many countries in Europe and elsewhere are discussing about mandating vaccines, I thought it was important to make the points above.

6/ Anyway I think that the real practical question that governments will face in Spring 2021 isn't "should we vaccine everyone" but "how do we ensure that categories that if vaccinated would slow the spread the most do get access to the limited doses of vaccine, if so they want?"