Reduction of Covid-19 fine for vaccine risks in some countries

The fines range from fines and the restriction of access to public places to the threat of losing access to vaccinations.

Indonesia has already imposed fines for refusing vaccinations of about $ 356 – or on average more than a month’s salary, according to the country’s gross domestic product per capita.

Israel, home to the world’s fastest Covid-19 vaccine vaccine, has drawn a solid line between those who have had shots and those who have not yet received them, as it unveiled plans on Sunday to reopen society. Those with so-called green passports, which verify a vaccination, can enter gyms, hotels and eventually travel without quarantine. Holdouts, Israel’s health minister said, “will lag behind.”

European Union and Australian officials have considered travel restrictions for those without vaccination certificates. The Supreme Court of Brazil has ruled that those who reject a Covid-19 vaccine can be banned from certain public activities and spaces. Brazilians have protested against the obligation of Covid vaccines.

For other countries, the penalty will restrict access to the vaccine itself. Singapore has threatened not to book doses for those who do not want to be vaccinated, and South Korea has said those who skip will be loaded in the back of the queue.

More people have expressed their intention to get a Covid-19 vaccine in an Ipsos survey released earlier this month, with sentiment rising towards the end of last year. The survey surveyed adults aged 75 and younger from 15 major countries. But in the majority of countries surveyed, at least one in five people remain wary of being vaccinated, citing side effects, accelerated clinical trials and efficacy as the main reasons for their hesitation.

Officials are dealing with the best way to force citizens on the fence. Health experts warn that it may be too ineffective to be too prescriptive, and may point to the contradiction of the government’s efforts to reduce smoking decades ago and get people wearing it in the face during the pandemic. The World Health Organization has warned that the mandatory vaccination of Covid-19 could discourage people from being vaccinated.

“In public health, it is generally best to work with roots rather than sticks,” said Dr. Ranit Mishori, a senior medical adviser at Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group, said. “We need to meet people where they are.”

The US, Japan and much of Europe have so far volunteered to take vaccines. To encourage citizens, politicians got shots on live television while governments rolled out aggressive campaigns to articulate the word.

Fears about Covid-19 vaccines may be just part of the reason for lower participation. The barriers to vaccination for many vulnerable citizens remain too great, beyond the lack of supply, due to lack of outreach, complications to make an appointment or even take time off to get a chance, said dr. Mishori said, who also teaches family health at Georgetown University.

Yet officials in Indonesia say they are trying to overcome the widespread resistance to vaccination. According to Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting, an Indonesian polling station firm, less than two out of every five Indonesians are available to get a vaccine.

“Sanctions are our last attempt to encourage people’s participation,” said Siti Nadia Tarmizi, health ministry official.

Other countries in Asia do not have as much resistance, but relative success in containing Covid-19 has made people vaccinate less urgently. Less than half of South Koreans, or about 46%, are willing to be vaccinated immediately, according to a poll by the Korea Society Opinion Institute released Monday. Nearly half of the other adult respondents prefer to monitor the situation.

South Korea, which begins vaccination on Friday, wants to vaccinate 70% of the population by November – or the equivalent of all but those who are pregnant and 18 or younger, who are likely to be given preference due to a lack of clinical trial data for those groups.

People who do not register when it is their turn to be vaccinated will be placed at the back of the queue, including health workers who are first in line, Seoul officials said. “We ask that you trust them and participate fully in the vaccination of the vaccines,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Sunday.

In the coming months, as vaccination grows, employers, schools and other institutions could apply their own vaccine requirements, health experts say.

The Vatican has said it will look into alternative solutions for workers receiving Covid-19 vaccines, following a setback earlier this month that suggests workers could lose their jobs if they skip vaccinations. The governor of the Vatican City said on February 8 that those who reject vaccinations without health reasons could get another position.

Countries with higher intentions to be vaccinated against Covid-19 tended to be Asian countries with strong confidence in the government, such as China, Singapore and South Korea, according to a study by Nature Medicine, a medical magazine, was published. According to the author of the study, which surveyed people in 19 countries, people were less likely to accept a vaccine than recommended it.

“In some Asian countries where people are more familiar with the government that is more assertive, citizens may be forced to be vaccinated,” said William Schaffner, professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. “But it’s a brand new technology that’s being made very fast, so you have to respect the skepticism and hesitation of people.”

Write to Dasl Yoon at [email protected]