The debate has begun regarding the possibility of employees being stood down if they do not take the COVID vaccination.
You can bet that the majority of those against this potential new legislation are the anti-vaccers, while those in favour of the 'no job, no work' mantra are those who believe they have the right to remain safe at work by not being infected by a fellow employee who hasn't taken the jab.
But there is much muddled thinking on this later position. Let me start by saying that I am no anti-vaccer. Quite the contrary. Vaccinations are wonderful. They give your body a fighting chance to defend itself against a virus before the virus gets the better of you, and in the long run can eradicate or greatly reduce disease incidence.
But the 'no-jab, no work' mantra fails in its reasoning on two knock-out fundamentals, even if aiming for very high vaccination rates should be aimed for, for the abovementioned reasons. But not for reasons of employment.
Firstly, a vaccinated worker is protected against a non-vaccinated worker, so that only the later is at risk. Only non-vaccinated workers are at risk to themselves in the work place, but not form the work, but the virus. As such, if a worker decides not to take the jab, then it is only themselves and other non-vaccinated workers who are at risk. The vaccinated worker is not. So the question is begging, what is the risk to a vaccinated worker from a non vaccinated worker?
Secondly, vaccinated workers can still be contagious. That is, taking the vaccination won't stop you from spreading the virus. Therefore, you can't stop a worker from not taking the vaccination in fear of them spreading the virus when the vaccinated person can equally spread the virus. Once again, a fundamental precept for the 'no jab, no work,' argument is invalid.
The reasoned solution to this apparent dilemma is to allow workers the right not to take the jab, because the alternative is based on invalid reasoning. Only non-vaccinated workers are at risk to themselves, and not vaccinated workers.
This argument though does need to be considered within the larger societal context where non vaccinated persons will place other non-vaccinated persons at risk. But as is the case in the workplace, vaccinated people in the broader community are protected, while only those non vaccinated are not.
As the argument is the same in both cases, we can safely suggest that all people who want to be protected against the virus need to be vaccinated, and those who don't will remain unvaccinated. Whether such a position is enough to eradicate or significantly reduce the virus is a somewhat different question to the one regarding workers.
