I’ve been extremely busy in the past months, and had no time to write a proper blogpost. But a recent event has obliged me to speak up, for “silence gives consent”, and I do not think it right to give consent to a comment made by a pubic health officer concerning my colleagues.
“If people are in our healthcare system and not recognizing the importance of vaccination, then this is probably not the right profession for them, to be frank.”
This comment is problematic on many levels. Firstly, it misrepresents the position of those professionals who choose not to be vaccinated. Even if they choose not to receive COVID-19 vaccines for personal reasons, it doesn’t mean they don’t recognize the importance of vaccination in general. Secondly, these people have been working in healthcare for many years, and have never been considered unfit for the profession by their employers and colleagues -presumably they wouldn’t hold the job till now if they were unfit, and yet, all of a sudden, they are declared not “right” for the profession, for no other reason than that they refuse to comply with a new, controversial government policy. Thirdly, I’m bothered by the fact that a highly respected scientist and public official would pronounce such a judgment on her colleagues, whom she had not known personally, but because they disagreed with her policy, she didn’t hesitate to reject them from the profession, which they and she had in common, and which they, like her, had worked for all their lives.
If I may say so, what troubled me the most in the past two years is not the COVID-19 pandemic per se, for that too shall pass, but the deeper problems that had been brought to the forefront by the pandemic. Fragmentation and polarization of the society being one of them. Even a thing as seemingly simple and innocuous as a vaccine can divide people.
Isn’t there a common ground? Everybody want to stay healthy and keep the healthcare system running, but we disagree (strongly) on how to accomplish that goal. There is no doubt (in my mind) that mass vaccination is the correct public health policy, but vaccine mandate is neither necessary nor sufficient to protect hospitals and workplaces from infection. Rapid testing is a valid alternative and complement to vaccination. People can be given a choice between them, and both choices would help protect themselves and those under their care. I don’t understand why some government officials would not consider alternatives to vaccine mandate, but decided to take a hard line instead, “my way or the highway”. As a result, many healthcare workers are forced into unpaid leave, and facing termination, and healthcare systems that are already suffering from staff shortage are scrambling to cope, which is not good news for the public.