Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1443936
9 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JANUARY 2022 with anti-vax vote 39% of tertiary-educated voters are either still undecided or intent on not voting. While this category probably also includes some vaccine sceptics, educated people the world over tend to have a greater trust in science and who are averse to irra- tional choices and Trumpism. The PN has traditionally given prominence to the 'common good' in arguments on civil liberties and bodily autonomy, even where such rights pose no direct threat to the physical wellbeing of other citizens. In this case it risks alien- ating both enlightened conserva- tives and social liberals who defer to public health authorities The PN's stance against limited vaccine mandates aimed at encour- aging people to take their vaccine and booster shots, opens an ide- ological can of worms for a party which stood for the defense of the 'common good' on other several other issues like abortion and the recreational use of cannabis. The advocacy of body autonomy when it comes to vaccine choices, contrasts with the party's stance against a law which allows people to smoke cannabis in their own home, or in its opposition to advocates of safe access to abortion who have been marginalized from the party. In reality the PN is not ideological- ly averse to limiting people's free- doms whenever it thinks this neg- atively impacts on society at large, particularly when such rights chal- lenge its conservative beliefs and upset the traditional order. But by recognising refusal to take a vaccine or a booster shot as a 'hu- man right', the PN is not just under- mining the notion that rights can be limited if the health of others is threatened by misinformed choic- es, but is engaging in à la carte lib- eralism, normalising the irrational choice of a minority, while still ad- vocating the criminalisation of ac- tions which pose no threat to the health of other citizens. And by recognising the choice not to take the COVID-19 vaccine as a human right, a future PN govern- ment may well end up faced with parents who question other the need of other vaccines, including those mandatory for school attend- ance. Bernard Grech scored his best polling scores a year ago when he stood out as the voice of caution against Abela's reckless talk of a quick return to normality. Now he risks disorienting voters in an attempt to chase with the hounds and run with the hares In the earlier stage of the pan- demic, the PN was critical of Rob- ert Abela's over-optimistic decla- rations that dismissed the risk of further COVID waves and lifted measures in the summer of 2020. Grech's own poll rating peaked in March in 2021 amidst an upsurge of cases, which many blamed on Abela's reluctance to reintroduce restrictions. Even on the social me- dia, it was people more inclined to- wards the PN who were advocating greater caution and who expressed fear of Labour succumbing to pres- sures by business interests to pre- maturely lift restrictions. From then on, Abela deferred to the advice health authorities and has preferred to err on the side of caution. The abrupt conversion of the PN from a more cautious posi- tion to pandering to libertarians is bound to disorient voters. The PN is right to note that circumstances on the ground have changed when compared to last year. But there is still great uncertainty on the future, which makes anti Vax talk dangerous and subversive Surey the emergence of the Omi- cron variant, which is highly trans- missible even amongst vaccinated people but apparently less lethal for those who have received their jab, has changed the rules of the game. For the first time since the outbreak started, an endgame is in sight. As Anthony Fauci, an advisor to the US president noted in interview with Der Spiegel, the virus is evolv- ing "into a much more prevalent but less severe infection" in a way that more people will get infected but won't get seriously ill. In this new scenario the PN has presented a strong case for short- ening the mandatory quarantine to 5 days and for the legalisation of self-testing kits. Yet the main rea- son why hospitalisations have not increased dramatically despite an upsurge of Omicron cases, is that most people are now vaccinated and boosted. In fact it is the unvaccinated who are now at greater risk of being hos- pitalised. By legitimising anti-vax choices, the PN risks eroding the consensus, which contributed to Malta's relative success in combat- ting the virus possible. It also fails to recognise the uncer- tainty of the present situation. As Anthony Fauci warned in the same interview it would be a mistake to say, "Oh, this is less severe, we are done with it... We might be done with it, but there's no guarantee that we are". And since there are so many countries where the rate of vacci- nation is still low, the virus still has the opportunity to mutate, "and it remains conceivable that the next variant will have a high degree of transmissibility but also a high de- gree of severity". This is why at this stage using the carrot and the stick to encourage vaccination remains crucial. PN wants to portray itself as pro-business to harness support from businesses hindered by more bureaucracy and loss of unvaccinated potential clients. But government's 'carrot and stick' approach has been crucial in a successful booster roll-out which may be key to the coveted return to normality, which businesses yearn for Small businesses like fami- ly-owned bars and small cafes are now faced with the additional bu- reaucracy of having to check on whether clients are vaccinated or not. It is also questionable why new measures apply to certain activities and business and not others like hospital visits, clothes shops and su- permarkets. Yet one cannot deny that the suc- cessful booster roll-out which the PN had actively supported, was partly the result of the 'carrot and stick' approach by government, and came in the wake of the pre-an- nounced vaccine mandates. In short less people would have taken the vaccine if they were not faced with any consequence. Busi- ness owners themselves may see the PN's defence of individual freedom as an obstacle for the return to nor- mality they yearn for. Moreover the PN, which till some time ago was rightly advocating teleworking for workers, has over- looked the rights of vaccinated workers in establishments where they may be exposed to infection from both unvaccinated colleagues and clients. Ultimately vaccination offers the strongest protection for those whose work exposes them to the greatest risk.