Should the COVID vaccine be mandatory? Almost half of Brazilians are against

Vaccination against covid-19 should not be mandatory for almost half of the Brazilian population. This is the result of a survey conducted by the Sou Ciência study center at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) in collaboration with the BigData Research Institute.

Of the 1,200 Brazilians interviewed, 46.8% said the vaccine should be a personal choice, not mandatory. According to Soraya Smaili, general coordinator of Sou Ciência, this result is linked to another point of view that has baffled researchers: 30.4% of those surveyed believe that vaccines have not been scientifically proven by seeing them experimentally.

Smaili points out that 2022 will be marked by advances in denialist talk, with some of the population discouraged from getting vaccinated against the disease. Such talk, also popularized by the Federal Government and the Department of Health, has contributed to the view that the pandemic is over and that there is no longer any need to worry about the disease, while reducing reliance on booster doses.

“Of course, those who claim that there is no necessity are mainly people who deny the evidence, the data of scientific evidence, or distort science,” says Smaili. “Groups working with this misinformation collect data, but play on misinformation that is studied, propagated, expanded without assessing context and being studied. And that’s a lot of lies, not just falsifications of information, but information that is often completely devoid of truth.”

Collective protection must apply

Sandra Mara Campos Alves, public health researcher and coordinator of the Fiocruz Brasilia Health Law Program, points out that the anti-vaccine movement is growing worldwide, opposing the scientific evidence on the safety and importance of the vaccine. With the negationist discourse, the discussion of obligation reaches other dimensions.

“On the one hand, arguments based on individual rights and autonomy are presented about whether or not to get vaccinated. However, this individual right is not absolute, and there is no doubt that collective protection must prevail if that choice is to be detrimental to society, that is, if the act of getting vaccinated poses a risk or danger to the health or life of other people. ”says the researcher.

Alves sees mandatory vaccination as a necessary measure to ensure everyone’s health. greater or lesser success of vaccination is related to population adaptation. “Mandatory vaccination deals with infectious diseases that are easily transmitted from one person to another.”

This is because vaccination provides not only individual protection, but also collective protection by preventing the spread of disease and interrupting the chain of transmission. “This is the process that ensures the success of the measure and can lead to disease eradication,” explains Alves.

Mandatory vaccination is different from mandatory vaccination

Alves points out that the vaccine is mandatory. restriction of rights, not physical violence or forced vaccination. “Mandatory vaccination consists of the possibility of restricting rights, such as the impossibility of attendance at certain places or the denial of enrollment of minors in non-vaccinated educational institutions, as a means of promoting vaccination adherence. ”, points to the researcher.

Alves adds that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) has already declared that no one will be inoculated by force or physical violence, and concludes: “However, the most important thing to ensure public commitment is to invest in scientific dissemination campaigns. raise awareness about the importance of vaccination, struggle fake news and thus ensuring everyone’s natural and voluntary commitment.