Australian business owners are calling for the right to fire employees who refuse to get the coronavirus vaccine when it becomes available.
The Council of Small Business Organizations Australia CEO Peter Strong told 7NEWS[1]:
If one of my staff members says, ‘No, I’m against it’, then I’m going to have to say, ‘I’m sorry you are a threat to my business.’
If you don’t sack them, you don’t have a business, especially if you’re in a high contact area where you’ve got a lot of customers.
It’s not discrimination, that’s a business decision. – 7NEWS[1]
Well, that’s highly debatable Mr Strong, after all there is no evidence to suggest these vaccines are going to provide any useful defense against COVID19 anyway. In fact, the vaccine itself may pose a threat to your employees and thus your business, so making such bold claims is irresponsible and a sign of your incompetence.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said the government was open to policies that would see Aussies stripped of JobSeeker payments if they refused the vaccine:
Our first goal is to encourage as many Australians as possible and I’m confident that with a vaccine that can save lives and protect lives…very large numbers of Australians will take it up.
But we reserve the right, subject to medical advice, to take steps that might assist. – Yahoo Finance[2]
Australia is waiting on the AstraZeneca vaccine which they have already secured a deal to ensure the entire population has a vaccine waiting for them, for free.
But the AstraZeneca vaccine has already been halted twice due to major side effects with patients from its study group. Just a few weeks ago they halted the trial due to one individual being hospitalized after they came down with Transverse myelitis, a potentially life long debilitating spinal disorder.[3]
The vaccine resumed shortly after as they brushed the incident off as ‘just the nature of large trials’.
I think we will see a similar response by governments and unions all over the World, mandatory vaccines are not popular with voters, however you can achieve the same goal simply by disabling people’s ability to function in society unless they have the vaccine.