ON Wednesday Boris Johnson called for a “national conversation” on mandatory vaccinations as he broke the news that the Government’s response to Omicron would be to enforce more lockdown restrictions on us all.
Hours later, his Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, dismissed the idea as “ethically wrong”.
The flip-flopping on the question of mandatory jabs is symptomatic of a government led by a man who risks losing his reputation as a freedom-loving Conservative.
For someone with such a profound love affair with Sir Winston Churchill, Boris seems to have no problem with flirting with his hero’s nemesis: Authoritarianism.
Of course it makes sense for those working in the health and social care services to have the jab (protecting the old and the vulnerable is THE priority).
But with the country having made such huge advances in the war against Covid, touting forcibly injecting all arms is completely unjustified, and completely un-British.
It was a year to the day on Wednesday since the first jab in Britain went into the arm of Margaret Keenan, and since then our vaccine rollout has been a staggering success.
Eight in ten of us have come forward to do the sensible thing and get jabbed.
When I got the call to get mine, I had it booked within ten minutes.
The simple, unavoidable truth is that Covid vaccines work.
All the evidence shows they have stemmed transmission, reduced hospital admissions and stopped thousands from dying.
And crucially, they have been, and will continue to be, our ticket to getting back our hard-earned freedoms and stopping our struggling NHS from being crippled even further.
It is utterly baffling, then, that the PM’s response to this world-leading vaccine effort is to countenance the idea of forcing people to get the vaccine.
There is a reason such an approach has been rolled out only in relatively obscure nations: Micronesia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, for instance.
The big democratic nations know it won’t wash.
Look at Austria.
Its announcement that it will make jabs compulsory from February, with the unvaccinated being effectively excommunicated from society, has not gone down well at all.
People have taken to the streets. Expect more loud protests.
The EU Commission’s leader, Ursula von der Leyen, has suggested other EU nations consider such measures to beat Omicron.
All this reveals is that these EU leaders have given up completely the art of winning hearts and minds.
ANTI-VAX CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
They are playing right into the hands of the selfish anti-vax conspiracy theorists who spread propaganda about the vaccine being nothing but a ploy for a massive state power grab.
They are leaving sensible people yet to be convinced about the vaccine at the mercy of lunatics who think the Government is out to inject them with bots so they can connect them to 5G masts.
There are only two chapters in the Getting Back To Normal playbook — getting us jabbed and combating anti-vax propaganda.
Those politicians and officials who want to keep the conversation on the subject of jabs and getting back to normal are on the same page as the public.
Boris seems to be in a completely different library.
To avoid more misery and social upheaval, we need to ramp up the vaccination effort and get boosters in arms.
The so-called conversation that needs to be had about mandatory vaccines is a very short one and goes like this: “Should we have them? No.”
We were anti-vax but changed our minds
‘It’s small price to pay to put clients at ease’
STEVE YATES, 41, a landscape gardener and dad of three from Oldham, said: “I’m super fit and healthy so I didn’t feel the need for the vaccine at first.
“Initially I was worried about how quickly it had been approved.
“Then when customers started demanding a double vaccination even to work in their gardens, I had a re-think.
“Many of my clients are elderly, some have lost loved ones to Covid.
“For me, it’s a small price to pay for reassuring my clients.
“I’ve also found it’s a handy promotional tool for scouting new business.
“Plus my wife, Lynn, and I can now go on the European trip we’ve been saving for and planning for three years.”
‘I did research and felt jabs were right move’
SIANNON BARFOOT, 28, a student from Poole, Dorset, said: “My husband Charlie and I are parents to four children and Charlie has a son from a previous relationship, so my health comes first.
“But I didn’t feel there was enough research on the vaccine when it was first available.
“We changed our wedding date twice in lockdown and when we were finally able to marry in October, we were determined to have the perfect honeymoon too.
“If we didn’t use the booking, we would have lost the cash.
“By then I had done my research and felt confident I was making the right decision in getting jabbed.
“Having the vaccination not only meant we could honeymoon in Italy, but it also meant older relatives felt more comfortable about attending our wedding.”
