December 28, 2020
Colombia’s government refusal to provide COVID vaccines to some 900,000 undocumented refugees from Venezuela effectively could result in ethnic cleansing.
The refusal of far-right President Ivan Duque‘s to vaccinate the refugees spurred fierce criticism and fueled xenophobia targeting the 1.7 million refugees, many of whom are Colombian citizens, who are currently estimated to live in Colombia.
We have our priorities, which will always be the Colombian citizens.
President Ivan Duque
Academics warned that excluding part of the population makes no sense from an epidemiological point of view while leading opposition Senator Gustavo Petro stressed that “xenophobia is one of the pillars of fascism” and asked what would happen if Colombians abroad were excluded from vaccination campaigns.
Would a mandatory Covid-19 vaccine be ethically justified? The answer involves a complex trade-off between personal autonomy, bodily integrity and the public good. If we believe that widespread lockdowns are acceptable in the face of Covid-19, then we should also believe that mandatory vaccination is acceptable. Likewise, if we accept the Mental Health Act 1983, which permits compulsory medical treatment of detained persons in certain circumstances, then we should accept that there is basis for mandatory Covid-19 in the law. These are the – rather contentious – arguments that a group of ethicists made to the UK government when it solicited evidence on the human rights implications of the pandemic.