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EWN reports that with SA’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout now in full swing, there are mixed views and questions about whether vaccinations will eventually become mandatory.
Over the weekend, a group of people held a protest against the vaccine rollout outside Groote Schuur Hospital. Professor emeritus at the University of Cape Town and practising attorney at BCHC Attorneys, Halton Cheadle, is of the view that when you rely on a constitutional right, no right is absolute and can be limited within the public interest. “You’d see that in the law relating to seatbelts, the public interest is the individual health of drivers and passengers and the public health argument about limiting the amount of trauma, arising from motor accidents which will happen, placing pressure on one's hospital needs,” he pointed out. Cheadle said that there were many scenarios that could play out, but clarity in law was needed. “As far as discrimination is concerned, I think, when, for example, it's a restaurant or an employer says 'Look, though you can come and eat in my restaurant or alternatively you can come and work in my factory but you must be vaccinated', now that would be discrimination or differentiation, that wouldn't be unfair, given the enormously powerful arguments concerning the public interest,” he argued.
- Read the original of the short report in the above regard by Kaylynn Palm at EWN
- Read too, Mandatory jabs not on cards yet, but experts say pandemic requires special measures, at Sunday Times
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page