key: cord-0071782-pzdyncoh authors: Sellars, Shaun title: Rights date: 2021-12-17 journal: Br Dent J DOI: 10.1038/s41415-021-3777-2 sha: 0bcfc8b4d335bba37548a6489d7059d7ba17b9e8 doc_id: 71782 cord_uid: pzdyncoh nan As things stand today, on 1 December, the country is in a state of limbo, waiting to see if the new Omicron COVID variant is likely to change the course of the pandemic. Understandably, the government are pushing the vaccination and booster programme as the first line of defence against ongoing widespread COVID outbreaks. Why are they doing this? Because we know that the vaccines are safe and effective. 1,2,3 A booster provides incredible protection against the most severe effects of COVID-19. 4 The anti-vax arguments that mRNA vaccines are experimental drugs or gene therapy have been dissected thoroughly and exposed as bunkum. 5, 6 Furthermore, as I predicted a while ago, they have gone as far as mandating healthcare workers, including dentists and DCPs, to be fully vaccinated to practise. 7 Despite us already having similar requirements for other vaccinations and GDC standards requiring us to provide a safe environment for patients and manage the risks to our own health, the obligation for COVID vaccinations has caused something of a stir. The most common complaint I've seen is that this is against our human rights. Well, I'm here to tell you that it isn't. The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) provides the British public with several protections, initially outlined in the European Convention on Human Rights. These include the rights of privacy, freedom of expression and liberty, among others. Many are angry at the new directive, arguing that the current vaccine mandates violate these and other aspects of the law. But this misinterprets the law and the concept of human rights in general. Most of the rights in the HRA are not absolute; that is, they can be restricted if certain conditions are met. For example, your right to liberty can be curtailed should you break particular laws, and your right to privacy can be waived if there is a significant public interest for it to be. But many feel that our rights expand beyond those protected by law; that there is a fundamental right to be in control of what goes into our bodies. Does the new vaccine mandate violate this? Well, no. Even if we do have an absolute right to control which medications we take, and not all of us do, we do not have a right to be a dental professional. Currently, unlike in Austria, there is no serious suggestion of compulsory COVID vaccination for UK residents -and it's unlikely that the current government would consider this unless the pandemic conditions worsen considerably. The situation we have at the moment gives us all a choice: have the vaccine and continue practising dentistry, or leave -a stick, where maybe a carrot would have been more effective. But you're still able to express your scepticism of vaccination and you're still able to earn a living elsewhere. There are issues with mandating vaccines for healthcare workers, not least that it's likely to compress the workforce issues we're already seeing. But a vaccine mandate, even if it's unpalatable, does not affect your rights in the slightest. Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines Safety and Efficacy of the BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 Vaccine COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and effectiveness -the elephant (not) in the room Pfizer and Biontech announce phase 3 trial data showing high efficacy of a booster dose of their COVID-19 vaccine The tangled history of mRNA vaccines Why mRNA vaccines aren't gene therapies Freedom at any cost?