Vaccines don’t violate your rights

For those refusing vaccination because they feel it is a violation of civil liberties, would it not make sense to check in with the two largest civil liberty organizations in North America?

In Canada, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association is an independent organization committed to defending the rights, dignity, safety and freedoms of all.

Here’s what Cara Zwibel, CCLA director of fundamental freedoms, and Brenda McPhail, director of privacy, technology and surveillance, have to say:

“Working for an organization that is dedicated to human rights and civil liberties has been challenging during the pandemic, and not only, or even mostly, because we are seeing laws and restrictions on our activities that were previously hard to imagine. It is difficult because people have certain preconceived and often inaccurate ideas about what a dedication to civil liberties must mean.

“Some understand ‘civil liberties’ as a focus on the individual, at the expense of the collective. Linked to this is the notion that government should be as ‘hands off’ as possible, so that individual liberty may flourish. This is certainly one conception of what it means to be a civil libertarian. But the CCLA has never taken the position that individual freedoms trump all, or that all government intervention is unwarranted or unwelcome. We believe not only in liberty but also in substantive equality — and we have always recognized that while sometimes governments are the main barrier to its achievement, it is also the case that governments sometimes need to step in to help to achieve it.”

This comes from the article Fear and Loathing and the Law: Pushing the Limits of Legislating “Good” Behaviour, in which CCLA argues civil liberty does not supersede public good, and it government intervention during COVID-19 is justified.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) describes itself as the nation’s guardian of liberty, and is clear around vaccine mandates.

Here’s what David Cole, ACLU legal director, and Daniel Mach, program director of freedom of religion and belief say:

“Do vaccine mandates violate civil liberties? Some who have refused vaccination claim as much.

“We disagree.

“At the ACLU, we are not shy about defending civil liberties, even when they are unpopular. But we see no civil liberties problem with requiring COVID-19 vaccines in most circumstances.

“While the permissibility of requiring vaccines for particular diseases depends on several factors, when it comes to COVID-19, all considerations point in the same direction. The disease is highly transmissible, serious and often lethal; the vaccines are safe and effective; and crucially there is no equally effective alternative available to protect public health.

“In fact, far from compromising civil liberties, vaccine mandates actually further civil liberties. They protect the most vulnerable among us, including people with disabilities and fragile immune systems, children too young to be vaccinated and communities of colour hit hard by the disease.

“Vaccine requirements also safeguard those whose work involves regular exposure to the public, like teachers, doctors and nurses, bus drivers and grocery store employees. And by inoculating people from the disease’s worst effects, the vaccines offer the promise of restoring to all of us our most basic liberties, eventually allowing us to return safely to life as we knew it, in schools and at houses of worship and political meetings, not to mention at restaurants, bars, and gatherings with family and friends.

“Vaccines are a justifiable intrusion on autonomy and bodily integrity. That may sound ominous, because we all have the fundamental right to bodily integrity and to make our own health-care decisions. But these rights are not absolute. They do not include the right to inflict harm on others.”

Food for thought for vaccine holdouts.