Alec Hogg’s Inbox: The ‘mandatory vaccination’ slope is very slippery

Almero van Wyk’s contribution yesterday stirred a hornet’s nest. Mostly of critical. Frank Payne’s most important recommendation comes at the end of his email which reads:

The quote by Almero van Wyk, on reading it, seems contradictory at the very least.

If the subject is infected by an unvaccinated person and gets Covid, despite having been vaccinated, that supports the contention that vaccination is not totally safe, so how can anyone else be liable. There are also indications that even vaccinated persons can continue to carry viruses that can be passed on to others. By definition then in the example given, a vaccinated person could theoretically infect another person, vaccinated or unvaccinated.

The truth of the matter is that the situation is very complicated, not my words, but those of expert Dr Paul Marik, who contends that any longer-term ill effects of the new vaccines, some of which have recently surfaced, are just not known.

What we do know is that the vaccines are new, with the MRNA type vaccines specifically never having before been used, which therefore creates cause for extreme caution.

If one is concerned about their personal safety, then by all means take the vaccine if desired, which if successful will have luckily served the purpose in preventing infection and hopefully  providing continuing immunity, as does nature in those unvaccinated that have recovered, although the application of unexpected repeat booster shots is already being recommended.

Personal choice, to make use of alternative treatments, which are supported by many trials and personal observations by medical practitioners, should be free from compulsory compliance by either political, personal interference, or legal edict. The best situation is one that supports a healthy immune system and education to encourage this is an imperative.  

Steven Darge weighed in with a similar line of inquiry:

I read Almero van Wyk’s submission in your ‘Inbox’ note in the 26 August edition of BizNews Insider with intrigue – and despair. Why is it that Almero fails to consider the approach taken to vaccines for other diseases, such as tuberculosis and the common influenza? Vaccines for both of those diseases, which can be deadly (I do not draw any comparison between the death rates for TB and the flu and that of Covid-19 – I’m no expert on the topic), are freely available to all who wish to take them. Yet Almero neither advocates for the TB and flu vaccines with the same vigour as he does with the Covid-19 vaccines nor does he say that those afflicted by the former(s) should shell out for their own medical care. I’m not a statistician by any measure but I presume that many hundreds of people occupy hospital beds and are afforded care funded by the government/private medical schemes, should they really battle with TB or the ordinary flu. Almero, however, and perhaps others who have adopted the ‘no vaccine, no medical care’ mantra, does not consider this.

What is the reason for this selective approach? I think I might know: it’s seemingly because the ‘mandatory vaccination‘ slope is more slippery than a certain judge of the Western Cape High Court. Can you imagine the backlash if people were forced to take both the TB and flu vaccines, or perhaps every vaccine that becomes available to fight any disease? 

There was a more positive reaction to the contribution on technical education. Ian Trotter wrote:

Marylynne Hagen is spot on with her views on the technical education lacking in RSA today.

Not only are we short of skilled people who followed the apprenticeship route but also technicians who followed the “T” route…….Another point to ponder over is what happened to our Teacher Training Colleges…all collapsed into the University structures….we now have a huge gap in the education system where standards are dropped to ensure that we sport high matric pass rates every year.

The unemployed youth could gainfully be used in fast tracking the “Upskilling” of our labour force and so doing drive the recovery of our economy.

Let’s get back to basics and start “educating” the unemployed in our country…rather than dishing out the tax payers money without any “payback”.

It is also time to develop a coherent Education and Training Plan for RSA that can actually add value to the economic growth of RSA…. Let’s get real….

And finally for this week, the on-the-ground experience shows how much room there is for improvement, His email reads:

I have a small gas shop selling LPG, doing installations at homes as well as repairs in our workshop. During the busy winter we took on a 17 year old man to help with heavy work delivering LPG. He has shown an interest in learning the technical ‘stuff’ and sits in the workshop at every opportunity. Once sufficiently experienced, there is the opportunity to get a qualification from LPG Association. 

I would like to employ this ‘kid’ but cannot afford to take him on for the slow summer period ahead. However, if there was financial assistance from Government, we could take him (plus another) on and give him a skill to put food on his table for the rest of his life.

I sent an email to the Dept of Labour over a week ago and have not had a response at all.

Sad, isn’t it!?

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