Can we accept that public health trumps personal values?
I refer to Mr Leow Theng Huat's letter, "Differentiating between the vaccinated and unvaccinated is about fairness", and Mr Peter Heng Teck Wee's letter, "More aggressive approach may not work", related to vaccine hesitancy, published on Tuesday. A balance needs to be found between these two opposing views. For decades, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has required that every pupil enrolling in Primary 1 must be fully vaccinated. The same rule applies to international schools not under MOE. We do not see any opposition to this policy because every parent understands that for his child to be protected, every child has to be protected, regardless of ethical or religious convictions. There is no question of whether this is "essentially the deprivation of a citizen's basic right". I doubt anyone would want to go down the slippery slope of extrapolating this argument to contest mask wearing and safe distancing rules. The Ministry of Health has hitherto been tolerant in not enforcing the all-or-nothing approach for the vaccine roll-out. However, we should be very mindful that among populations with low vaccination rates, there has been a rampant uptick in the more infectious Delta variant in recent weeks. A basic tenet of a civilised democracy is not so much that the majority can behave with "tyranny" but rather that the minority will have to compromise. Therefore, we must entrust our duly elected officials to promulgate a sound public health policy for the benefit of the entire population. If we can accept the principle that public health trumps individualistic values, then it is one step in the right direction in the battle against the pandemic. Chua Tee Lian (Dr)