COVID 19 restrictions: giving more freedom to vaccinated persons does not make vaccination compulsory
A few weeks ago, Roland Pierik and I wrote an op-ed, published in the Volkskrant, in which we argue for the possibility to give more freedom in lockdown, to persons who have been vaccinated. The argument builds on an earlier paper we wrote and a draft chapter of our book-in-progress. The key idea is two-fold. On the one hand, public health measures should not be more restrictive than necessary, and (assuming that being vaccinated prevents transmission of the virus to others) there seems to be little reason to uphold lockdown/quarantine restrictions also for vaccinated individuals – in other words: such restrictions should be lifted for them. On the other hand we argue that such a policy – fewer lockdown/quarantine measures for vaccinated – should not be considered as a form of compulsory immunization as many appear to think. Recently I was invited to make a short presentation for a webinar of the Swedish National Medical Ethics Council in which I present the arguments. The presentation is published on YouYube.