The World Today for June 04, 2024

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SWITZERLAND

Around 60 years ago, when rabies was widespread in Europe’s fox population, Switzerland invented an innovative way to stop the disease. Officials in the wealthy Central European country stuffed chicken heads with vaccines and dropped them from helicopters.

The vulpine scavengers gobbled up the laced meat, wrote the Times of India. By 1999, rabies disappeared in Switzerland, and other countries have since adopted the approach, which is much more efficient than catching individual critters and giving them a shot.

Today, the Swiss are still trying to innovate how vaccines are delivered, though now more controversially.

When Swiss voters cast their ballots in a referendum on June 9, they will decide whether or not to “exclude any obligation to vaccinate,” in order to preserve the “freedom of physical integrity,” reported Swissinfo.ch, a state-owned news outlet.

A routine part of Swiss politics and society – as this government website explained – the referendum question would ensure that citizens suffer no “penalty or social or professional prejudice” from refusing a jab. Current law prohibits officials from forcing anyone to submit to a vaccination, but the referendum would stigmatize stigmas associated with the issue.

Swiss leaders have recommended that voters say no to the idea, le News wrote. First, they argued, enforcing the law could be difficult. The government can hardly tell people whether or not they can harbor opinions. Secondly, they acknowledged that sometimes people who have not been vaccinated must be treated differently for medical reasons. Doctors and people with compromised immune systems might want to know if someone else is unvaccinated, for example.

Swiss leaders, meanwhile, are generally not excessive in their promotion of vaccines. Last year, for instance, according to the National Desk, they opted to suggest that citizens, even high-risk folks, not receive Covid-19 vaccinations because they likely had already been exposed to the virus and didn’t need extra protection.

The populist right-wing Swiss People’s Party is backing the idea.

Opponents, however, say the measure is unnecessary and even damaging to the public interest: For example, physical and mental integrity are already protected under the Swiss constitution, which guarantees the right to ‘self-determination’ in matters of health and life in general, wrote the Local.ch. As a result, nobody can be forced to be immunized against their will in Switzerland.

More interesting, the Local says, is “Since the initiative doesn’t specifically refer to medical interventions but generally covers any actions by the federal government, cantons and communes that involve physical contact, it implies that police would no longer be able to arrest a suspect without his or her authorization – as such actions would involve physical contact that could impact a person’s mental state.”

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