Martin Buijsen, Professor of Health Law at Erasmus School of Law, was on Radio Rijnmond's broadcast on Monday 4 January to talk about the willingness of the Dutch population to vaccinate against corona. “It will be a real challenge whether enough people are willing to be vaccinated,” says Buijsen.
Buijsen states that, given the willingness of the Dutch to take the flu shot, some pessimism is appropriate about the vaccination against the coronavirus. In order to have a chance to create a situation of group immunity against the virus, there has to be a vaccination rate of sixty to seventy percent. Buijsen, therefore, states that the situation will remain unchanged if at least 40 percent of the Dutch refuse to get vaccinated.
Concerning an obligation to vaccinate, Prof. Buijsen indicates that forms of indirect coercion should be considered much sooner, such as requiring a vaccination certificate to gain access to an event or flight. Not only will politicians have to decide about this, but event organizers for example can also ask for a vaccination certificate themselves. This works in the same way as the refusal of children who do not participate in the National Immunization Program by daycare centres. According to Buijsen, it is therefore up to companies and institutions to ask such a thing from citizens. Subsequently, it is up to the refused to go to court if he disagrees with this.
- More information
You can read more about the contribution of Martin Buijsen on the website of RTV Rijnmond (in Dutch).