Vaccine mandate: Tread carefully
Vaccines are critical. But explore ways to improve public safety without State overreach
The Union government last week told the Supreme Court that no one in India can be vaccinated for Covid-19 against their will and the rules and protocols released by the Centre do not advise making a vaccine certificate mandatory for any purpose. The response was in the context of a petition seeking exemptions for people with disabilities from having to produce evidence that they had received doses. Indeed, according to the rules, vaccine certificates are not mandatory to qualify someone for access into any place. But states such as Punjab and Haryana have made it a must for people to have at least one dose to enter public places, and several others, including Mumbai and Delhi, are considering similar directives.
The world over, vaccine mandates are seen as a tricky area. World Health Organization (WHO) has said they should be a “last resort” because they risk affecting uptake, and could deepen socioeconomic inequality. While forcing people to take vaccines against their will defy principles of personal liberty, being unvaccinated poses a significant risk to the larger public health. Countries such as Austria, Ecuador and Indonesia see the latter as a more pressing problem, making vaccines mandatory for all adults. Others have taken a softer line, making doses a must for discretionary, high-risk activities such as going to a crowded indoor gathering. Such rules exist in France, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea and Switzerland, with France’s experience being particularly successful (it helped reduce hesitancy).
The benefit of widespread vaccination is clear, and is the most stark in intensive care unit (ICU) admission trend comparisons between the United States (US), a country with high hesitancy rates, and the United Kingdom, a country with widespread coverage. While the US’s ICU admission rates have risen in step with its Omicron-induced Covid-19 wave, the UK’s has been virtually flat. These examples hold lessons for India. The government will be well within its rights to ensure public safety by making access to leisure and discretionary activities, which are often indoor, as also travel, contingent on vaccination. There should be riders and exemptions for people with disabilities and health conditions. But these can be balanced adequately, as the path shown by other countries demonstrates. Vaccine mandates do not have to be a binary choice and there is more India can do to improve public safety without overreach.