Vaccine mandates and your rights

When people created societies thousands of years ago, we did so for several reasons.

First, humans are social and happier and healthier when they are with other people.

Second, we did it for security. It is far easier to protect loved ones when you have neighbours who can assist.

As these communities formed, humans also realized that standard, agreed upon rules had to be created in order for their societies to run smoothly. Leaders were chosen who created what we would now refer to as laws. They were rules around such things as how commerce and governments would operate. More informal laws such as social etiquette were created.

All of these were designed to allow a society to operate efficiently. If everyone or at least the majority agree on common rules and abide by them there should be little chaos and society should operate in orderly fashion.

By agreeing with the above, in exchange, people agreed to surrender some of their own personal freedoms. The intention was that an orderly society was preferable to one that was chaotic.

For example, if someone assaults your child or your spouse, it was agreed that society would deal with that situation through police and the courts. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to show how society would break down if, in this example, the aggrieved party simply shot the accused. Other prohibitions such as laws against driving drunk or walking around naked in public were agreed upon. Is this an infringement on the rights of those who wish to drink and drive or walk around naked in public? Perhaps, however society again decided that the good of the many outweigh the good of the few.

Since COVID-19 vaccines were created and distributed there have been debates over mandatory vaccinations. Much of the debate around the violation of personal freedoms are involved in mandating vaccines. It is curious, to say the least, why many “anti-vaxxers” fixate on the personal freedom argument here. Mandatory vaccine policies came into effect in the 1800s directed mainly against small pox. Protests erupted in some communities over these measures, but all in all the majority of society supported them. As we moved into the 20th century, we saw provinces mandating vaccines for such diseases as measles, diphtheria and polio, to name just a few, for children in schools. Again, this was done to protect society as a whole, which for the record, has ensured few people ever suffer from these diseases today.

For those who protest that mandatory vaccines are a violation of their rights, do they think that laws such as a minimum age to drink alcohol and vote, or prohibitions against drinking and driving, or banking regulations, etc., are also violations of their rights? If not, why not? Keep in mind that Canada has asked people to give their lives in war to defend society. Was this a violation of their rights?

Section I of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states rights are “subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.”

Wouldn’t the protection of society from a deadly pandemic be considered “reasonable in a free and democratic society?” Considering that the ultimate goal is for society to remain safe and that history shows we have agreed to these measures in the past, why the pushback now against something truly so crucial for the protection of us all?

You participate in society at a certain cost to your personal freedoms to enjoy the other benefits of society. Isn’t a vaccine mandate just another example of this?