Why do the vaxxed care so much about the anti-vaxxed?

Earlier in February, the University of the Free State scored a win against an organisation called Free State For Choice on the matter of vaccine mandates. I had a little chuckle and wrote a thought about it on my Facebook page. Thinking it was a pretty open-minded perspective, I was surprised to see the backlash… oops. One of the most supported antagonisms was a comment, “Why do the vaxxed care so much about the anti-vaxxed?”

Phew. I thought of all the best cocky responses I could muster. Why do taxpayers care so much about the poor? Why do sober people care so much about sharing the road with drunk drivers? The best one I eventually came up with was golden. Why do clean people insist that I shower at least once a month?

Getting into a juvenile Facebook argument wasn’t on my agenda for the day so I left the comment but it’s been eating away at me and I can’t understand how it would, to anybody, be a valid argument; the argument of leave me alone and let me do what I want regardless of my state of vaccine. Sure, but the freedom laws apply both ways and that includes the rights of institutions to regulate how they address their access policies.

It’s also pretty disingenuous to claim that there is no “choice”. Even the most intense of crimes is a choice that is available to a person. Nothing actually stops anybody from comiting a murder for example. The reason you’re less inclined to do it is that you’re a good person. Those who aren’t good people are further disincentivised from doing it because it could result in a new residence for 25 years. Similarly, there’s no ball and chain holding any person down while doctors force a needle into your arm.

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But the choice is even more varied than that. One could opt not to go work at the establishment anymore. One could opt to find a different establishment to go to. One could even work on the capital market and build a new establishment that’s anti-vax friendly. Good luck on that one though. What’s most intriguing is that almost all vaccine mandates offer the alternative of a weekly PCR test to offer access to the anti-vaxxed and yet, somehow, that choice doesn’t seem to be a choice to those contesting.

Let’s be honest, the reality isn’t that there isn’t a choice. The reality is that the choice is one that anti-vaxxers don’t like.

Years into our legal development, it should be obvious that vaccine mandates for the benefit of community health are legitimate practices. We’ve applied obligations to avoid infections of various diseases for years. Try hide a HIV positive diagnosis from a person you’re sleeping with and look forward to a criminal charge. Drive a car that feeds off of rhino horns and expels arsenic and you can look forward to a few charges.

Those are extreme examples but the philosophy is standard; one can limit freedoms, especially in a private setting, for the health of the community.

The question then becomes where the balance can be drawn. We had separate entrances for blacks and whites in apartheid but to compare those to separate entrances for vaccinated and unvaccinated is lazy, stupid and offensive. Try apply that rationale and walk into the wrong changing room at the gym then see how far your “don’t be a Nazi” argument gets you.

If we’re going to engage in this debate, let’s engage in it properly. Let’s have an honest discussion on where to draw the line. If you’re going to argue that the line shouldn’t be drawn at all, well then you can stay home and keep scrolling your Facebook groups.

I’m happy to critically engage on the idea of vaccine mandates. Unfortunately that requires some ability to be honest. If somebody tells me that the mandate takes away their choice, that’s not honesty. It’s blatant selfishness at the expense of the freedoms of institutions and health of a community. It’s bad enough that we have to share a country with those of that school of thought.

Let’s not make it worse by lying about not having a choice. That’s different from having a choice that is liked.

So why do I care so much about the anti-vaxxed? I don’t. I just care about the law being crafted without disingenuous reasoning. And frankly, the anti-vaxxed camp have offered little else when it comes to vaccine mandates.

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