Countries that consider enacting mandatory vaccination must ensure that human rights are respected, and forced vaccination is never acceptable, said on Wednesday (8) the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.
“Any mandatory vaccination regimen must comply with the principles of legality, necessity, proportionality and non-discrimination,” he said in a speech at a seminar of the Human Rights Council. “The vaccine should not be given by force under any circumstances,” he said.
According to Bachelet, it is necessary to adopt a flexible regimen, which accepts “appropriate exceptions”, as contraindications for the immunizing agent for some patients. Under these conditions, she said she found it acceptable to restrict “certain rights and freedoms, such as access to schools, hospitals and other public spaces” for unvaccinated people.
The commissioner also said that, when there are fines and other penalties for those not vaccinated, they must be proportionate and subject to the judgment of judicial authorities.
According to Bachelet, the goals of countries planning to adopt mandatory pandemic vaccination are “of the highest level of legitimacy and importance”, but “mandatory should only be used when necessary to achieve public health goals, and only when less measures are taken. invasive, such as the use of masks and social distancing, are not enough”.
Bachelet also emphasized that countries must ensure the supply of vaccines and that they are affordable, “sufficiently safe and effective”.
She also said that any mandatory vaccinations must undergo frequent official reviews to ensure it remains “necessary, proportionate and non-discriminatory.”
Austria, Holland and Germany are some countries that have recently enacted severe restrictions, including lockdown, for those who do not take the Covid vaccine, trying to contain a fourth wave of increase in cases of the disease.
Earlier this month, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said mandatory vaccination should not be ruled out as public policy to defend the population of the European Union (EU) .
.
