If you think you're being discriminated against because you've chosen not to be vaccinated, you're wrong.
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The state's no jab, no job policy for Tasmanian healthcare workers is a good move, one that protects patients and staff. While full details are yet to be disclosed, public and private staff without a medical exemption have until October 31 to get vaccinated or find other work.
It's only a matter of time before private businesses and event organisers follow Museum of Old and New Art owner David Walsh in mandating vaccinations for staff.
It works hand-in-hand with a contentious four-step national cabinet plan to ease restrictions once vaccination rates reach between 70 and 80 per cent of the country's adult population. We've all been on a steep learning curve for the past couple of years and alongside that has been a large spike in misinformation. Apparently, the media is behind a COVID conspiracy theory.
The reality is journalists respect and report the consensus opinions of doctors, researchers and epidemiologists over the opinions of influencers, fringe scientists and anti-vaxxers. And as talks about opening up business and normal life begin, it's becoming clear that many services will at first only be available to people who are vaccinated.
This is to manage the spread of COVID-19, to ensure the burden on our hospital system does not become too great, and to protect the most vulnerable.
On social media, some people called these types of policies "discrimination".
"I refuse to discriminate against people of any race, religion, gender or vaccination status," is a cry that is being shared.
It confuses the meaning of "discriminate."
One is to tell the difference between, or treat differently. The other, legal, definition is the unjust or prejudicial treatment of people based on things they have little to no control over, like their race or gender.
Being vaccinated - or not - is a choice. And choices have consequences. If you refuse to take the test for your drivers' license, and then get pulled over, you're not being discriminated against. It's a consequence of your choice. In the world of COVID if we want to move around, we must be vaccinated, to make it as safe as possible.
To call this "discrimination" spits in the face of groups who have faced decades of exclusion and oppression. It is not the same. You're free to disagree - but your decision has consequences, too. It may have a potentially fatal impact on those most vulnerable.
Adults and children who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons will have to wait until enough people are so it's safe for them to live a "normal" life. If you genuinely want a more inclusive world, get vaccinated, so it's safer for everyone.