Aibu to be horrified at the thought of mandatory vaccinations

[TracyLords]

I’m not anti vax. I’ve had my jabs and will get booster this week.

There have been countries in the EU insisting on mandatory vaccination: this concerns me: surely it is up to the individual to decide to get vaccinated (or otherwise)

YANBU. I'm vaxxed as well. But I do not want to live in a society where we can be dictated to on what we put in our own bodies.

YANBU at all, but a frightening number of posters on here are all for mandatory vaccinations it seems.

I think there's at least one thread on this already, if you do a search.

@Waxonwaxoff0 that’s it! I considered the risks and benefits and decided to take the vaccination. I’ll be honest and say I think anyone not taking it is being a bit silly in my opinion. But I don’t think that the state should have the right to vaccinate people against their will

Yanbu

[quote TracyLords]@Waxonwaxoff0 that’s it! I considered the risks and benefits and decided to take the vaccination. I’ll be honest and say I think anyone not taking it is being a bit silly in my opinion. But I don’t think that the state should have the right to vaccinate people against their will[/quote]
I agree 100%.

I don’t get this being horrified. We’re in a middle of a once in a lifetime pandemic. The world has been a total shit show for the past two years and we’re still going round in circles.

It’s a fact that vaccines massively reduce hospitalisation. Would you prefer mandatory vaccines or never returning to life as we know it?

We’re not in a normal situation here. What do you think the world should be doing to try stop this? Keep us all locked down? Overwhelm hospitals and sod who dies? There are no good options. For me taking a safe vaccine is the best option if it gets us back to normal.

YADNBU. No one should be forced to have a medical procedure against their will.

I am vaccinated. I am anti compulsion.

I agree it is very scary. If you allow the state to mandate one medical procedure it opens the door for them to mandate others.

YANBU

I've had my vaccines too, booster is booked. No one who values their bodily autonomy should support mandatory vaccinations.

You can judge and disapprove of those who chose not to have them, you can support private businesses and venues who make vaccination a condition of entry but the state should never be given the power to force people to be vaccinated.

I don’t think that the state should have the right to vaccinate people against their will

There are lots of areas in life where the state mandates that people do or don't do a certain thing. If it didn't there would be no need for prisons. And I certainly wouldn't pay taxes if they weren't obligatory.

I think there are two issues. One, to what extent should the state interfere with individual freedom. You might say the freedom to go drink-driving should be curtailed because it can harm the person doing it and those around them too. But that's the same with vaccine-refusers - they're more likely to die of Covid than of the vaccine, and unvaccinated people are more likely to spread the disease. In both examples the state would be interfering in people's lives, stopping them doing what they chose with their bodies.

Two, if you accept the state should have the power to prohibit or mandate things, is the vaccination an example where it should be used? I don't know where the line should be drawn - my drink driving example will be accepted as legitimate state interference by many, so why not interfere on something else that will save lives?

Do people who voluntarily have the vaccine really care if reluctant people are "forced" to? (I'm not sure they will actually be forced into it, Austria(?) for example just fine people who refuse but don't strap them down and inject them.) Personally, I'm double-jabbed, and I'd happily have the booster if they fucking open a vaccination centre in my town rather than expecting me to get on a packed bus for an hour to head to the main SHOPPING CENTRE of a nearby city when it's THE BUSIEST SHOPPING PERIOD OF THE YEAR AND COVID IS SPREADING WIDELY. It doesn't matter to me very much whether others are forced to be vaccinated, just as I don't object when someone I know is prosecuted for driving over the limit. The rules don't affect me because I didn't break them, in fact it is better for me if they are enforced.

I'm vaxxed for everything, in triplcate.

Vaccine passes for pubs and nightclubs etc? Only during the pandemic? Sure.

But mandating vaccines? As in you get fined then potentially prison if unvaccinated? That's absolutely horrifying. There WILL be mission creep, it will be a slippery slope, it always is with this sort of thing.

So, YANBU OP, I'm on the "right" side of it yet also totally opposed to where this is going.

Women always end up with the worst end of compulsion. Just you wait for it.

My Dad is probably going to lose his job in February (in NZ) because he doesn't want the vaccine. I think he's wrong not to want it, but it's his decision what he puts into his body. It is so wrong that he will no longer have work because he doesn't want a medical procedure that comes with risks of serious injury and even death, however small those risks are (and yes, I know they're tiny).

Forcing them is def U however unless there's a medical reason to refuse then I think it's 'OK, you've opted out. That's fine but you won't have the rights that come with the responsibility'.

But the drink driving example doesn't compare. People are still allowed to drink, they just cannot then drive. It's not choosing what they do with their body it is using harmful machinery while drunk. People can drink as much as they like, no one stops them.

The issue is paying for the hospital treatment of people who are not vaccinated. Unless there are quite stringent public measures put in place to encourage or force people to be vaccinated then people dont get vaccinated and the health service is on its knees - it simply cant cope with the numbers. In places like Germany I believe the voluntary uptake has been low and they are spending a fortune in public money treating them.

I am also uncomfortable with mandatory vaccinations but I'm also uncomfortable with the alternatives such as withdrawing treatment for the unvaccinated or making them pay or making everyone pay including vaccinated. I don't know what the answer is- yes it's a personal choice but it's a personal choice that has shit consequences for lots of other people - if you are not vaccinated you are much more likely to need treatment, to make others ill, to need time off work, costing everyone money, more likely to cause new virus mutations etc so there has to be something done to encourage if information and education isnt working

@FOJN

I've had my vaccines too, booster is booked. No one who values their bodily autonomy should support mandatory vaccinations.

You can judge and disapprove of those who chose not to have them, you can support private businesses and venues who make vaccination a condition of entry but the state should never be given the power to force people to be vaccinated.

Exactly right. YANBU, OP.

@NollaigNollaig

I don’t get this being horrified. We’re in a middle of a once in a lifetime pandemic. The world has been a total shit show for the past two years and we’re still going round in circles.

It’s a fact that vaccines massively reduce hospitalisation. Would you prefer mandatory vaccines or never returning to life as we know it?

We’re not in a normal situation here. What do you think the world should be doing to try stop this? Keep us all locked down? Overwhelm hospitals and sod who dies? There are no good options. For me taking a safe vaccine is the best option if it gets us back to normal.

I'd like to see properly funded healthcare for one, but the useless government is busy spending money on other stuff.

@GrouchyKiwi

YADNBU. No one should be forced to have a medical procedure against their will.

I am vaccinated. I am anti compulsion.

All of the above ^

YANBU. I've been double vaxxed and will likely have my booster when offered. My teen has received their first covid jab. I'm not antivax in the slightest but mandatory vaccinations are wrong. I understand the reasoning behind the decision but would protest if this came to the UK. Vaccine injury is rare but happens. I'm personally more concerned about injury from the virus but I have no right to decide between the risks for others and neither should anyone else.

The rules don't affect me because I didn't break them, in fact it is better for me if they are enforced

The problem is summed up by your last sentence. What happens if the next mandate is one that DOES affect you, and you genuinely and sincerely oppose it? You wouldn't be free to challenge it. The precedent will have been set.

YANBU. I had niggles about opt-out organ donation (and I'm on the register to donate absolutely anything and I'm a regular blood donor) because of the implications about needing to opt-out from the presumption of the state making decisions about your body. But as a double vaccinated, would vaccinate my children when allowed person, I'm horrified at the prospect of mandatory vaccines.

I agree with PP who says women always get the worst end of the stick on this. I think we're more likely to be concerned about it because many of us already know what it's like to have the state attempting to legislate what goes on in our own bodies. It never ends well.

Women always end up with the worst end of compulsion. Just you wait for it

Exactly this.

And if a government has to resort to forced vaccination, they have lost the argument and need to try a lot harder to persuade people.

There are plenty of countries you can’t travel to without having had certain vaccinations. Plenty of jobs where certain vaccinations are compulsory.

I’ve been vaccinated so it doesn’t affect me.

Interesting that there are a lot of people here who believe that MMR should be compulsory or that children should not be allowed a school place if they haven’t had it, yet don’t agree with the same here.

Personally I have no sympathy with anyone who loses their job over the vaccine. No-one is losing their job, they’re making a choice to no longer be in that job because the terms have changed. If you choose not to have the vaccine then fine, but if your employer makes it mandatory for you to be in that job you have two choices. You either have the vaccine or you leave.