"People should not be forcibly vaccinated," warns Michelle Bachelet
La Alta Comisionada de la ONU para los Derechos Humanos, Michelle Bachelet, 13 de septiembre de 2021 Fabrice COFFRINI AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
The vaccination obligation must always respect human rights and forced vaccination is never acceptable, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned on Wednesday.
With the fifth of contaminations, the debate on the vaccine obligation is made more pressing.
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As the 5th wave of Covid infections sweeps across Europe, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reminded us during a seminar on access to healthcare that the vaccination obligation had to “
submit to the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination
”.
"
Under no circumstances should people be forcibly vaccinated, even though a person's refusal to comply with a vaccination obligation may have legal consequences such as, for example, an appropriate fine,
" said Michelle Bachelet in a video message. .
Austria, for example, has decided to make vaccination compulsory for everyone from February 1.
Germany is also considering this solution
under the leadership of the new Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
.
Health measures taken due to a vaccination rate estimated not high enough by the authorities.
►
Read also: Covid: Austria restores national containment and will make the vaccine mandatory
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for the opening of a debate on the subject and the World Health Organization, insists on the notion of "
absolute last resort
" because of the ethical and practical implications . For Michelle Bachelet, “
the vaccination obligation should only be applied when it is necessary to fulfill crucial health goals and should only be considered when less intrusive measures such as wearing a mask and social distancing have been shown to be effective. failed to achieve these goals
”.
She also recalled the urgency of making the vaccine available to all in order to respect the principle of equality and non-discrimination. Any compulsory regime must also allow exceptions for individuals who have a medical contraindication.
On the other hand, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights considers that it would be legitimate to restrict certain rights and freedoms of those who refuse to comply with the vaccination obligation (access to schools, hospitals or other public spaces).
The efficacy of vaccines against the Omicron variant
"
No reason to doubt
": the vaccines would retain efficacy against Covid-19 caused by the Omicron variant, in particular to prevent severe forms. This is in essence what the WHO says, supported this Wednesday, December 8 by the Pfizerr press release. After three doses, the findings are the same. Other reassuring news, from Anthony Fauci, the American Covid man believes that Omicron would not induce cases of Covid-19 more severe than the previous variants.
However, these statements are currently based only on preliminary observations with a limited amount of data.
On vaccination, for example, Pfizer communicates on three doses, but wants to be more reserved about people who have received only two.
However, these constitute the vast majority of those vaccinated.
It is also only laboratory data, so an incomplete view.
Only epidemiological data, in real life, will give the end of the story.
As for the severity of the disease caused by Omicron, this is certainly good news, but we must not forget that this variant is a priori much more contagious, even if it is not more nasty.
The volume of patients will be much greater and mechanically the total number of people hospitalized will continue to increase.
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