Thread by @docrussjackson

I'm often VERY critical of right-winger Andrew Neil.

Agree or not with so-called 'vaccine passports', this article is measured & rational - but the Mail changed the word 'penalise' to 'punish' imho simply to drive clicks & outrage.

Antivaxxers are now inevitably attacking Neil.

Agree or not, here's a brief summary of points made by Neil:

Vaccine passports became mandatory in France in August for cinemas, museums, restaurants, theatres, bars, nightclubs, planes & long-distance trains.

At first there was some pushback, now it's just part of the routine.

It's not foolproof. Nothing is. People who have been vaccinated can still contract & pass on the virus.

Vaccination substantially reduces the risk of serious illness & hospitalisation

The more people who are vaccinated the better the chance we all have of beating this virus.

In France, vaccine scepticism was initially rampant but the week after Macron announced the vaccine-passport policy, 3.7 million people booked to get their jabs.

France has caught up with UK & has vaccinated more citizens with one jab than Britain.

There are 5 million unvaccinated British adults, who endanger not just themselves but the rest of us.

If they contract Covid, it is they who will put the biggest strain on the #NHS, denying the rest of us with serious non-Covid ailments the treatment that is our right.

The small number of people who, for medical reasons, cannot be vaccinated can be exempted & helped with regular testing

But for the rest it's selfish not to be vaccinated. We all have a responsibility to act in ways that don't just protect our own health but also that of others.

Neil is not in favour of compulsory vaccination.

He disagrees with Greece, which plans to fine all those over 60 who refuse to be jabbed 100 euros (£85) a month from mid-January until they agree to be vaccinated.

Neil also disagrees with Austria, which is back in full lockdown, & planning to fine adult refuseniks of any age, starting at £3,075 & rising to £6,150.

Neil rejects the view of those who claim this is 'an egregious assault on our freedoms'.

Neil says "Liberty is not the same as unbridled licence to do what you want, which is the road to anarchy" (or, I would add, the road to right-wing libertarian's 'free-market Utopia').

Neil says 'liberty for all involves a balance between rights & responsibilities'.

'My right to visit certain African countries is balanced by my responsibility to be inoculated for yellow. You cannot practice medicine without being vaccinated against hepatitis B.'

Neil thinks everybody working on the front line in the #NHS & social care should be vaccinated as a condition of employment, as they will be from next April.

He says the unvaccinated are making more restrictions on our lives inevitable. It is time we imposed some on them.

Neil says "In a free society the unvaccinated have a right not be jabbed. But they need to realise that right comes with consequences, which will inhibit their freedoms as they constrain ours."

"Singapore has decided that the unvaccinated who end up in hospital with Covid will have to foot their own medical bills.

I doubt we'd ever go that far. But you can see the logic — even the morality — of it.

By all means exercise your rights. But beware of the consequences."