In Great Britain, a corona vaccination will soon apply in certain work areas – but not for all. What’s behind it?
London – From October onwards, “Jabs for Jobs” will be the order of the day in Great Britain. Then there is a compulsory vaccination in the workplace in certain areas. Employees in health care and nursing must have received two doses of the corona vaccine * by mid-September – unless there is a medical reason for exception.
Some large companies such as Google or Facebook also rely on vaccinating their employees against the coronavirus * if they want to return to their workplaces. But even people with certain beliefs could be exempt from this vaccination requirement, as reported by the daily The Telegraph.
Corona in Great Britain: Vegans are not required to have vaccinations at work
According to a 2020 court ruling, ethical veganism counts as a philosophical belief in the UK and is legally protected. At least half a million British people who live vegan do not have to be vaccinated, even if their employer actually demands it. But what does the corona vaccination have to do with veganism?
“Some ethical vegans reject vaccinations on the grounds that these corona vaccines were inevitably tested on animals *,” explains a law firm spokesman Lewis Silkin. “A labor court had declared ethical veganism to be a conviction in need of protection.” Religious views also fall under this protection, for example. Employers therefore risk legal proceedings if they fire vegan employees due to a non-existent corona vaccination. It will also be difficult to request a vaccination for new hires.
The corona vaccine does not contain any animal components. Most vegans, however, reject experiments on animals in principle.
Corona vaccines do not contain any animal components, but are tested on animals
Many understand that it is not always possible to avoid the use of animals. It makes little sense to refuse a drug for ethical reasons as long as animal experiments are required by law, according to the animal welfare organization Peta, for example. Instead, they even praise the “successful approach” of skipping certain animal experiments “due to the urgency” of the corona pandemic and conducting clinical studies with humans in parallel.
Foreign Minister Dominic Raab praised the “Jabs for Jobs” rule, announced by numerous companies, as a “smart measure” last Thursday (July 29, 2021). The office of Prime Minister Boris Johnson * rowed back a little and emphasized that the decision rests with the respective companies. For the health and care sector, corresponding legislation that requires a corona vaccination has already been passed by parliament.
Jeanette Rowley from the “Vegan Society” reports that she has received around 100 messages from vegans who have concerns about the corona vaccination and are therefore worried about their jobs. “They are psychologically very affected because they have to face this dilemma.” However, the vast majority opted for a vaccination “because of the responsibility towards people”.
Corona mandatory in Great Britain: exempted people living vegans? Legal explosiveness
The attorney Clare Chappell assumes that the regulation will cause a lot of disputes in the coming months and years. “Any vaccine opponent will at some point claim that it is a philosophical conviction to be against vaccinations.” The Telegraph reports that the labor courts have to deal with a huge backlog of work anyway. It will be a long time before decisions can be made about compulsory corona vaccination at work. (lrg) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
