Liberty for me but not for thee
Posted at 3.15pm UK time
According to today’s announcement by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), the Pfizer vaccine is safe for use in 12-15 year olds, having previously only been approved for those 16 or older. It is now up to Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to advise whether the Government should actively adopt vaccination for this age group.
In my view, it is almost certain that vaccines for 12-15 year olds will become Government policy. It is a natural consequence, a product of unadulterated statism the pandemic has created. People are not seen as individuals to be governed and legislated for, but numbers on spreadsheets and graphs to be managed. (This author yearns for the day he isn’t subjected to spreadsheets, graphs and the 5pm briefings that come with them!) This statism is summed up by the horrible phrase of ‘getting jabs in arms’. Last time I checked I was more than just an arm.
But as we have seen repeatedly, this lack of humanity is not applied equally. If I do not get a vaccine for whatever reason or do not let my child have one (If I were a parent), I could be subjected to a ‘no jab, no job’ approach by a potential employer or refused access to public spaces if vaccine passports materialise. For Michael Gove MP, when he is informed he has come into contact with someone who has had a positive test for coronavirus after attending the Champions League final (which normally requires self-isolation), there is a ‘pilot scheme’ whereby he self-tests daily and avoids what the rest of us are subjected to. How lucky!
Yet again, ‘liberty for me but not for thee’.
