If you’re going to mandate Covid vaccination at your workplace, here’s how to do it ethically

‘Maintaining and promoting trust is important when it comes to vaccine mandates. It matters to people subject to mandates and it matters to the public more broadly because mutual trust is a cornerstone of effective public health engagement. People should feel supported in their health decision making and they should trust and feel respected by their employers. We’re seeing increasing politicisation about COVID public health measures, in Australia and internationally. This is a social harm we should avoid.’

Read here (The Conversation, August 18, 2021)

‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe

‘As this epic catastrophe plays out on our Modi-aligned Indian television channels, you’ll notice how they all speak in one tutored voice. The “system” has collapsed, they say, again and again. The virus has overwhelmed India’s health care “system”.

‘The system has not collapsed. The “system” barely existed. The government – this one, as well as the Congress government that preceded it – deliberately dismantled what little medical infrastructure there was. This is what happens when a pandemic hits a country with an almost nonexistent public healthcare system. India spends about 1.25% of its gross domestic product on health, far lower than most countries in the world, even the poorest ones. Even that figure is thought to be inflated, because things that are important but do not strictly qualify as healthcare have been slipped into it. So the real figure is estimated to be more like 0.34%. The tragedy is that in this devastatingly poor country, as a 2016 Lancet study shows, 78% of the healthcare in urban areas and 71% in rural areas is now handled by the private sector. The resources that remain in the public sector are systematically siphoned into the private sector by a nexus of corrupt administrators and medical practitioners, corrupt referrals and insurance rackets.

‘Healthcare is a fundamental right. The private sector will not cater to starving, sick, dying people who don’t have money. This massive privatisation of India’s healthcare is a crime.’ 

Read here (The Guardian, Apr 28, 2021)

Covid-19 pandemic has shown humanity at its best – & at its worst: WHO DG before the UNICEF Executive Board

‘Ultimately, our fight is not against a single virus. Our fight is against the inequalities that leave children in some countries exposed to deadly diseases that are easily prevented in others; Our fight is against the inequalities that mean women and their babies die during childbirth in some countries because of complications that are easily prevented in others;

‘And our fight is to ensure that health is no longer a commodity or a luxury item, but a fundamental human right, and the foundation of the safer, fairer and more sustainable world we all want.

‘History will not judge us solely by how we ended the COVID-19 pandemic, but what we learned, what we changed, and the future we left our children.’

Read here (IPS News, Feb 11, 2021)

Covid lockdowns in Hong Kong: Ambush-style action clearly works

‘The ambush-style lockdowns in Hong Kong are being criticised as a violation of human rights. However, such sudden lockdowns may remain the most efficient way for the city to control the spread of Covid-19 (“Hong Kong’s latest lockdowns uncover four Covid-19 cases in three buildings”, February 8).

‘To know the reason for this, we must know the answer to two questions: why a lockdown, and why ambush-style... (1) Lockdowns are the most effective way known for tracing or eliminating the virus infection chain... (2) As for the ambush style adopted, the lack of notice is the only way to ensure that no one can escape the lockdown...’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Feb 9, 2021)

Emergency ordinance gives Muhyiddin carte blanche – P Gunasegaram

‘The Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance, already in effect from January 11, gives unfettered powers to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in the name of the king, going far beyond what is required to control the Covid-19 pandemic.

‘It provides numerous avenues for a substantial abuse of power, without any checks and balances whatsoever, including the power to appoint a committee that could potentially extend the life of the emergency, and the power to temporarily seize land, building and movable property, and unilaterally decide the compensation for this.’

Read here (The Vibes, Jan 15, 2021)

Independent UN experts decry Covid vaccine hoarding: ‘No one is secure until all of us are secure’

‘The only way to fight the COVID-19 crisis is to make affordable vaccines available to everyone, independent UN human rights experts said on Monday, underscoring that in an interconnected and interdependent world, “no one is secure until all of us are secure”...  “This pandemic, with its global scale and enormous human cost, with no clear end in sight, requires a concerted, human-rights based and courageous response from all States”, four UN experts together with members of a human rights working group said in a statement on universal access to vaccines.’

Read here (UN News, Nov 9, 2020)

Human Rights Watch: “Whoever finds the vaccine must share it” — Strengthening human rights and transparency around Covid-19 vaccines

‘The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that the fates of people all over the world are interconnected: protecting one country’s people and its economy from the impacts a deadly infectious disease is impossible unless the people of other countries are also protected. Governments have a critical role to play in funding efforts to develop safe and effective vaccines. But no amount of funding will guarantee equitable access without decisive collective action and global cooperation to challenge the profit-driven and opaque systems that have determined access to lifesaving treatments and vaccines in the past.

‘Governments should continue to fund Covid-19 vaccines, especially to ensure access for low- and middle-income countries. While doing so, they should take all possible measures, including directing and conditioning funds in ways that are aligned with their human rights obligations to share the benefits of scientific knowledge and its applications widely, and ensure participation, transparency, and accountability in vaccine research, development, and manufacturing.’

Read here (Human Rights Watch, Oct 29, 2020)

COVID-19 and the need for action on mental health

‘The report highlights the needs of vulnerable populations, including first responders and front-line healthcare workers, older adults, children, women, and refugees or those in conflict settings. In addition to fear of illness or death and the growing challenges posed by mis- and disinformation, individuals are also experiencing a broad scope of secondary mental health effects, including financial insecurity or social isolation. The report advises that emergency psychosocial support should become more widely available, including remote mental health care. Furthermore, the report calls for prioritizing the protection and promotion of human rights of those with severe mental health conditions, as their needs can often be neglected in major emergencies.’

Download here (United Nations, May 13, 2020)

We can beat the virus only by protecting human rights

‘Perhaps the ultimate threat is from governments that assume excessively broad “emergency” powers. International human rights law recognizes that certain rights — such as our right to travel or congregate during an infectious-disease outbreak — must give way in time of crisis, so long as restrictions are lawful, necessary and proportionate. Yet leaders around the world are using the pandemic to strengthen their rule, dismantle checks and balances, and escape accountability at the expense of our rights. All of these behaviors run counter to effective health-care policy and can easily backfire.’

Read here (Washington Post, May 6, 2020)

UN chief: Pandemic is fast becoming 'human rights crisis'

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warns about ‘rising ethno-nationalism, populism, authoritarianism and a pushback against human rights’ in many nations as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. ‘The crisis can provide a pretext to adopt repressive measures for purposes unrelated to the pandemic,’ he added. The UN chief's remark comes as governments around the world carry out extraordinary measures to deal with the pandemic and as activists have denounced state violence, threats to press freedom, arrests and smartphone surveillance, as many of the alleged abuses regimes have implemented to fight COVID-19.

Read here (DW, April 23, 2020)

Covid-19 and human rights: We are all in this together

Human rights are key in shaping the pandemic response, both for the public health emergency and the broader impact on people’s lives and livelihoods. Human rights put people centre-stage. Responses that are shaped by and respect human rights result in better outcomes in beating the pandemic, ensuring healthcare for everyone and preserving human dignity. But they also focus our attention
on who is suffering most, why, and what can be done about it. They prepare the ground now for emerging from this crisis with more equitable and sustainable societies, development and peace.

Download here (WHO, April 2020)