Does anyone know if there has been any talk about the vaccine being mandated for the merchant industry?
I guess some companies could decide on their own whether they want their employees to vax, but companies like MSC probably don’t have a choice?
1 Like
I guess you’re talking about the covid-19 vaccine.
Those are currently approved for emergency use by the FDA. Nobody can require you to take a vaccine approved for emergency use.
If and when it makes it to full approval it won’t be any different than any of the multitude of shots you’ve had in your life so I wouldn’t worry about it. By that point it’s likely in my opinion to only be required for individuals in risk groups.
1 Like
It’s coming.
You will have to be vaccinated to travel. You will have to have proof of said vaccine - either with a card you carry, or a digital certificate on your smart phone.
Employers will start requiring you to be vaccinated as a condition of employment, and they’ll have legal ground to do so.
Schools already require proof of vaccination for your kid before the start of the school year.
Fortunately, it won’t be long before it will be impossible to get on an airplane in the US or UK without proof of Covid vaccination. The UK is talking about a vaccine passport to go to concerts or the pub. Some countries are already starting to prioritize vaccinated travelers.
US maritime employers will be slow and cautious about “requiring” Covid vaccination. Unofficially, some employers are strongly “encouraging” vaccination.
As a practical matter, within about three months unvaccinated Mariners will be at a significant disadvantage in job market.
So, take off your tinfoil hat and get your vaccination as soon as possible.
4 Likes
Do you have your pneumonia vaccine?
1 Like
It’s not that I am wearing a tin foil hat. You have the right to put in your body what you feel necessary, and so don’t I on the contrary.
Not trying to throw any 1-2s at you. It’s just the truth.
If I felt that my health was at risk I would be more willing to take the vaccine ASAP. But if my industry and employer is going to mandate me to take it, of course I’m going to. Just trying to stretch this out for as long as I can until I’m required. That’s all.
1 Like
I do not. Is it significant if I do?
It’s unfortunate to see. It’s the new normal Id rather not have to go through, but if it comes down to my career it won’t be a difficult choice.
Yeah currently my academy is pushing to mandate it for our sea term, but there’s still no word on it yet and I’m honestly just trying to graduate and commission already. I’d rather not take it because I don’t feel myself at risk. My family and loved ones are healthy, with no history of contracting this politicized virus. But like I’ve stated in my other replies, if I have to take it to be able to live, what other option do I really have but to simp to the government?
1 Like
No. That was a reply to they guy advocating forced covid-19 vaccinations. Like the pneumonia vaccine, the covid-19 vaccine is likely to end up recommended to people in risk groups.
1 Like
It’s not just your health that is of concern. It’s everybody else’s health as well.
3 Likes
I would just keep your head down, follow protocol and not worry about it.
There are a lot of people that like to get excited and advocate for totalitarian policies but few of them come to fruition.
Take the time to look at the actual data coming out of the vaccine trials, read medical journals instead of news articles, and don’t get information from social media and you’ll find you have a lot less to worry about.
4 Likes
Ah I see, I’m on my mobile so it’s difficult to see the replies.
But that’s also the thing. It goes both ways. You can call me selfish for not caring about other peoples health. I can call you selfish for caring about your health over mine. Regardless If I have the vaccine, I would still be a contagion to others because the virus is still spreadable with the vaccine. So if I’m not at risk, and you have the vaccine but I don’t, what is there to worry about?
4 Likes
Exactly my plan, standing by to stay low and under the radar (one of the best things that I have learned at my Academy). Appreciate the decency in your replies.
That’s not certain yet. It may prevent transmission as well. It’s better to wait for more information instead of making statements like that. Any new medicine has variations in dosage and application when first introduced.
Fair enough. That’s what I first heard about when all the information on the vaccines were coming out. I’ll retract my statement. Too worried about coasties to even read some new articles.
Papers, please.
4 Likes
Of course, I have every required or recommended vaccine. All of this is recorded in my International Yellow Vaccination Record Book.
1 Like
From Bloomberg this morning
On March 15, Britain’s Parliament turned to the question of the moment: how to reopen pubs, cinemas, and soccer stadiums. Almost half the adult population, after all, has gotten a Covid-19 shot, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has declared that the end of the crisis “really is in sight.” At the heart of the discussion was the “vaccine passport,” a smartphone app or a slip of paper that would attest to inoculation, granting bearers the freedom to travel, go to concerts and cafes, or even just return to the office. Yet what sounds like a practical solution to an unprecedented problem opens the door to a host of ethical and legal concerns. “It would mean passes for the pub,” Conservative MP Steve Baker thundered in a parliamentary debate. “I did not think that is the society that we wished to live in.”
Politicians, ethicists, and epidemiologists worldwide are grappling with the same issue. As vaccine rollouts accelerate in the U.K., U.S., and beyond, how do we open up safely, letting people who have protection and are demonstrably Covid‑free return to pre-pandemic life without risk to the rest of the population? More important, how do we do that in a way that’s equitable, because passports could easily benefit the wealthy and more fortunate while leaving behind minority groups and the poor. “There’s an important sense that we’re all in this together, and it’s only as a society that we get out, but if you allow some people to have freedoms and privileges but not others, it may erode that sense of solidarity,” says David Archard, chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in London. “There are clear benefits, but I think on balance the potential risks and harms outweigh the gains.”
Central London on March 2, during the country’s third lockdown.
PHOTOGRAPHER: WIKTOR SZYMANOWICZ/GETTY IMAGES
Providing proof of vaccination isn’t new. Many tropical and subtropical countries require travelers to show they’ve been inoculated against yellow fever, and others want proof of a polio vaccine from at least some travelers. But a Covid passport program would require global coordination on an unprecedented scale, spurring myriad efforts to offer one. The nonprofit Commons Project and the World Economic Forum have talked with officials from 52 countries about developing what they call CommonPass, aimed at returning travel and trade to pre-crisis levels. The International Air Transport Association, the airline trade group, is working on a similar idea. The European Union has outlined plans for digital certificates to facilitate movement around the bloc. U.S. airlines have pushed the Biden administration to set standards for health passes.
Even without government directives, businesses such as restaurants and theaters may take the lead and require customers to show they’ve been vaccinated. But companies that implement measures such as “no jab, no job” policies risk legal challenges, University of Oxford professors Christopher Dye and Melinda Mills wrote on March 19 in the journal Science . “Freedom of choice for individual employees, set against a firm’s duty and preference for the care of all staff, might be tested in court,” they wrote.
“Vaccine inequity is a huge problem that is potentially made worse by this system”
The biggest concern for many health advocates is access to vaccines. More than three months