Privilege, Conscience and Vaccine Choice
Let’s talk for a moment about the Western Australian (WA) Government’s recent announcements regarding proof of vaccine requirements coming on 31 January. I am prompted to add to the considerable number of voices already talking about this because the word “coercion” is creeping into some of these conversations.
Let’s be clear. There is no totalitarian regime in Western Australia, nor is there a conspiracy against human rights or freedoms. What there is in Western Australia is a uniquely high standard of living, due to our geographical isolation and well-considered border closures isolating us (to date) from the worst impacts of COVID felt almost everywhere else in the world. What there is in Western Australia is the great privilege of living in a place where public health care is available to all, and we can reliably expect to receive the medical attention we need when we are unwell.
This is not to say our health care system is perfect, or completely adequate for the demands placed on it, especially in the unprecedented times of a pandemic. No health-care system in the world was prepared for COVID, and the majority of people worldwide have little or no access to health-care and we should remember that. Systemic issues with the health-care system here have been embedded over the long term, and over multiple terms of Government. It is not realistic to expect that they can be turned around instantly by the current Government in a moment of crisis when the greatest pressures of all are being placed upon it.
The McGowan Government was widely (though certainly not universally) applauded within WA for taking the difficult decision — with significant opposition from the Federal Government and other States — to enforce border closures and use WA’s isolation to its advantage in preventing the spread of COVID into our community from other places. Some of those who are now accusing the McGowan Government of coercion are calling for the State to maintain these hard border closures to maintain “the bubble” — and even to secede from the rest of the Nation to do so. The McGowan Government recognises that this approach does not offer a long-term solution for managing COVID in WA, and is again in the unenviable position of having to make difficult decisions about how to manage things going forward. The difficult decisions are not necessarily popular decisions, and it is commendable that McGowan is willing to make unpopular decisions in the State’s interest.
The McGowan Government must do its best with the resources it has at its disposal, and must plan for the worst in an effort to be prepared for any contingency. We have the advantage of observing and learning from all of the varied approaches taken worldwide to manage COVID, though there are no silver bullets in medicine. Vaccines are an important and effective tool that are readily available to us to help reduce the incidence of acute cases of COVID in our community and thus assist with managing the shortage of hospital beds anticipated in the future when a higher volume of COVID cases are experienced in WA.
Let us return to privilege. With privilege comes ethical responsibility and moral obligation. If we expect our health care system to provide the hospital bed that we may need one day (perhaps sooner than we think) we must do more than pay our taxes. We must cooperate with the system itself and the things put in place to enable the system to meet the demands placed upon it. This is good citizenship, and should be motivated by the understanding that whilst we may not need these things ourselves at this moment, these things are needed by others now and will be needed by ourselves and others at other times.
Most of the State’s population are willing to be a part of this community and cooperate with the system, and those people are entitled to benefit from the privilege of the freedoms available to us here. In a democracy we always have the freedom of dissent, and those with sufficient conviction can take a stand as conscientious objectors. But a conscientious objection should always be made in the knowledge that failure to comply has the consequence of loss of privileges.
This is not coercion. This is governance and it regulates and delivers the safety, security and stability that sustains the way of life that we enjoy. When we go to the beach, we can go to the beach with the life-guard and swim between the flags with the expectation that we’ll have help if needed. We are certainly free to swim elsewhere, but by doing so we choose to distance ourselves from the help on offer.
The great irony is that a vocal group of those conscientiously objecting on libertarian grounds are people within the Christian community, a faith whose core message has never been about personal rights and freedoms — but is rather focused squarely on selflessness and neighbourly love. Many of those objecting on the grounds that they have the right decide for their own bodies — even where it may have direct consequences for the lives of others (as has been seen elsewhere) — are the same people who vehemently deny the validity of pro-choice perspectives on abortion. Many of the people who are fearful of vaccine injury, are strong supporters of those on the American Christian right who insist on the right to bear arms, which is a much more prevalent risk of injury and loss of life than any vaccine. Of course, there are also many (mostly less vocal) Christians who believe in the Biblical principle that we are called to work under worldly authority, who are vaccinated, and believe that their own vaccination will be of benefit to others in the community.
The availability of vaccines is a privilege and vaccine choice is a product of privilege. Those people who are able to be vaccinated, but are exercising their choice not to get vaccinated in WA are empowered to do so by the confidence that most other people in their community are getting vaccinated. Ironically, it is the conscientiousness of the majority in support of the community that facilitates the conscientious objection of the few — and that, I think, should be a matter of conscience for us all.
