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ADAPTING TO THE NEW REALITY
With most of the local population now having been vaccinated, the freedom to
resume some sort of normality has been enjoyed by most of Gibraltar over the
last few months or so. Nevertheless, the very real threat of the Delta variant of
the virus is now affecting younger unvaccinated people in the local population.
Those vaccinated who do catch Covid are not usually affected as badly as those
who have not been vaccinated at all.
With this regained freedom, employers have been treading the delicate line in
encouraging their staff to return to the workplace instead of working remotely
from home. Many staff have preferred the flexibility of working remotely
during the pandemic, although for some the lack of direct daily contact with
colleagues merely added to the stress and anxiety of dealing with the virus.
Employees in some companies are resisting going back to the office on the
grounds that they feel unsafe in an environment where some co-workers refuse
to be vaccinated. This has some validity, although the risk of contracting the
virus or exhibiting serious symptoms has been greatly reduced by having both
doses of the vaccine.
So, what is an employer to do?
TO JAB, OR NOT TO JAB?
Deciding to have the vaccine is not about coercion and it is not just about
whether your employer will allow you to return to work. It is a personal choice
which people want to exercise for themselves. But in exercising that choice
other issues must be taken into consideration as well, not least the welfare of
family, friends and colleagues.
As we have seen from the millions of people who have died from the virus since
the beginning of the pandemic, refusing to have the vaccine runs the very high
risk that a person will catch the virus, and particularly the more recent Delta
variant. The virus destroys personal freedoms: the freedom to exercise your
choice, the freedom to live a normal life and, at its worst, the freedom to live.
Choosing not to have the vaccine also risks other people’s freedom as well.