South Africans inclined to not do things forced upon them, says activist on vaccines

Activists claim the opposition against the possibility of mandatory vaccinations was not an antivaxxing problem but rather a Covid response problem.

Human rights activist and lawyer Schalk van der Merwe said he is ready to oppose mandatory vaccinations should an attempt to impose a Bill be announced.

“We must remember there was no law currently of general application in terms of section 35 of the constitution that could even come close to make mandatory vaccination applicable or compulsory,” Van der Merwe said.

The vast majority of the population did not want to take the vaccine.

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“And to call those people antivaxxers is not even closely the right term. Those are people who do not trust whatever they are trying to inject into us in terms of Covid. It’s not an antivaxxing problem, it’s a Covid response problem,” he said.

Van der Merwe said the majority of South Africans were inclined to not do things forced upon them.

“The average South African just simply on a logical basis do not find any worth in getting vaccinated. They see people getting sick after being vaccinated, they see people with vaccine injuries, and see people die. They are simply not inclined to take anything new that is still experimental.

“You can never force a person to undergo medical remedy that in this instance very clearly from their side seems ineffective.”

Prof Ian Sanne, a member of the Covid ministerial advisory committee, said mandatory vaccination policies could only be introduced within the constitution.

“The implementation of mandatory vaccination policies has been addressed in labour regulations, which will be addressed under the Disaster Management Act in access to public places, spectators of sport and education institutions, and workplaces.”

Sanne said the constitutional viewpoint was that individual rights cannot exceed or undermine the population, community, or group rights.

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“While the discussion on how to legislate the mandatory policy is under way, the anti-vaxxer position on the validity of science and Sahpra registration is complete nonsense.”

Science was clear that vaccines reduced infection rates by 65% with a reduction in severe disease by 86% and higher and reduced death rates by 95%.

Prof Alex van den Heever, chair of social security systems administration and management studies at the Wits School of Governance, said it was near impossible to prevent the periodic waves of infection and the emergence of
variants.

“The only way to make them less deadly is to vaccinate the population more completely.”

Van den Heever said the antivaxxers deliberately propagate false information to the detriment of people who take their nonsense seriously.

“Vaccine mandates are now an essential tool,” he said.