Medical apartheid, much like its historical counterpart, is fundamentally a question of rights and freedoms.
Just as South Africa’s apartheid regime was characterised by systematic racial segregation and discrimination, a scenario where individuals are segregated or discriminated against based on their vaccination status, evokes echoes of history.
The primary objection to such a system rests on the principle of individual autonomy. As the cornerstone of our modern societies, individual autonomy grants people the freedom to make choices about their own bodies. A state that imposes vaccination as a prerequisite for participation in society infringes upon this autonomy, in the same way that South Africa’s apartheid regime infringed upon the rights of its non-white citizens.
Further, consider the potential for a two-tiered society. Apartheid was defined by a severe imbalance in the distribution of rights, opportunities, and services between different racial groups. Similarly, a medical apartheid would create a social hierarchy, where the vaccinated have more rights and freedoms than the non-vaccinated, a dichotomy that is antithetical to principles of equality and fairness.
Like race-based apartheid, medical apartheid infringes on individual autonomy, exacerbates socio-economic disparities, and creates a two-tiered society.
All these are contradictions to the principles of freedom, real equality, and justice.
