Open letter — Ethics vs Virus
Dear leaders (all of you throughout the European continent),
The current vaccine mandates and the increasing push towards making vaccination obligatory for ALL adults and (soon enough) children is fundamentally flawed. If we are to state that enforcing bodily intervention upon people is for the greater good and for the safety of everyone, then logically it can be correct. However, our political and social systems have long been based on certain basic principles of human rights and individual as well as societal liberties. There is a reason we don’t have fascist, racist or communist systems anymore in Europe! We all fought for the end of such regimes and dictatorships and we based our social structures on democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and certain basic human rights.
I do not contest the necessity for strict measures or emergency orders when we speak of increasing numbers of infections and overloading of healthcare systems. Yes, governments are responsible for protecting the health and lives of the people which have elected them to do so. However, if such protection involves the breach of fundamental principles, principles on which all of our European continent’s governments have been founded on, then THIS IS NOT THE WAY! Then please! Find another way! Because there is always more than one solution available to every problem.
It is a mistake to put all hope on mass vaccination. There will always be groups of people who will evade it or will not be eligible for it for example. That, and vaccine disparity across the world is not likely to change. This is an issue of economics. Nothing can be entirely for free across the world. Therefore there will always be pockets of possible infections. This virus is not likely to ever go away entirely. There needs to be a combined strategy to reduce its mortality, infectiousness and ease of transmission. This combined strategy needs to include better treatments for those who get sick and especially those who have a more aggravated form of the disease. Vaccination plus better treatments. In the meantime it is also evident that the healthcare system isn’t well equipped to deal with mass infections. Some investment in that department would also be wise. We should not envisage a normal life where people (children especially) constantly have to stay away from each other, wear masks permanently and be restricted to their homes or immediate neighbourhoods. This is the past…this is before we had the technology we have today.
Here are some novel technology-based ideas to think of for the future:
Just as we have smoke detectors in buildings we can have viral detectors. Units that measure viral loads in the air inside a building. We can have better air circulation systems for event halls, meeting rooms etc. We can introduce faster and less invasive testing methods for kids in schools and universities…workplaces even…trains, public transport, planes…fast, on the moment results. We can also make these things subsidized by the state and open a “pandemic budget” for each of the governments. Just as sanitary towels are freely available in certain schools, and certain public toilets, we can have mask distributors that allow access to them by all people and especially those in financial difficulties to afford them. We can also make these masks less environmentally damaging by making them out of more biodegradable materials but still within the norms of basic protection — and preferably, MADE IN EUROPE (because it wouldn’t hurt to increase some independence from cheap yet costly to transport foreign products). Hand sanitizing modules should be installed in public places where large numbers of people are likely to gather, in the same way we have SOS stations across a highway. These should be maintained and managed by a company that is trained in public health safety and whose employees have undergone training in the domain.
Lack of expertise, lack of imagination, and lack of willingness to spend money on long term solutions is what will undo all draconian measures currently being implemented, and worse, it will damage the foundation of our social structure.
A think tank to ponder, put forward and discuss ideas on how to combine science, technology and psychology should be a MUST in a situation where we are now two years down the line and almost no changes can be observed…and people already feel that sense of hopelessness to the point of caring even less about the final outcome.
Many people distrust governments, politicians and even scientists and it is more than justified distrust if one looks at past events in all domains. Companies and governments have lied about or omitted facts about the safety of certain products. Personal and business interests have often been put ahead of the “common good”. Just the topic of the safety or danger of “smoking” is enough to remind most people that business came before truth. How can anybody in their most logical mind expect ALL people to comply with something in which they do not believe? The current vaccination drive reminds one of the Crusades. Every leader has believed in their own respective cause, irrespective of proof or the autonomy of their subjects.
To speak only for myself:
I am an educated adult who’s lived and worked in three different countries on two separate continents. I am supportive of science and technology. I am not religious and have no political affiliation to any party or ideology. I do not support conspiracies. From a personal perspective, everything needs to be scrutinized and measured against tangible facts, past or present, and be put into context — most importantly! Considering my profile, I hope you realise that if I begin to feel that governments are treading on dangerous ground, ideologically and philosophically speaking, then quite possibly so do others…and perhaps…just perhaps this is not something to overlook: In the name of the GREATER GOOD!
The duty of government is not only to serve and protect lives, but also to serve and protect the principles on which it has been founded. If it can so easily and readily overrule its own laws, then what good are those laws? Why should anybody follow them?
They will follow because they are militantly enforced. But greater powers have collapsed for lesser causes.
A wider panel of experts is necessary before changing, overruling or enforcing strategies that possibly conflict with the current moral code.
Therefore to conclude:
My argument is not a denial of the situation and not on grounds of expertise I do not possess. My argument is a civilian one that grabs at the core of a major conflict of interest: Is it practically and morally justifiable to breach societal ethics for the sake of the greater good? Who decides? Which is the greater good? (Hospitals? The elderly? Children? The vulnerable? Commerce? — Who qualifies as the “Greater Good”?) Who is to be held responsible for the consequences of contradictory actions? Who is to pick up the bill for enforced ethics? What happens if it fails? Who will speak for the credibility of those who have enforced, yet failed? Who is more powerful in taking global decisions? (The group of people charged as ‘the government’, or the people that elected them?).
As the pandemic continues and solutions all fall just short of the finish line, ignoring ethics and all the questions above, is equal to the same denial that some people have that there is in fact no virus at all…which is entirely untrue.
Please, I urge you all to think multiple times before opening a Pandora’s box that will take us all back to the past…a very dark past.
Kind regards,
Du Plessis, Irina
