Should we fire anti-vaxxer patients?

We may not have had a worse and more difficult year than 2020 in our careers, and perhaps in our lives as well. It became difficult for us to see our family, friends and patients. We lost loved ones who used to live among us spreading joy and happiness. We lost some of our patients, our businesses were temporarily shuttered and some of them permanently closed and many went bankrupt or nearly bankrupt for others. It was a very difficult year: We were locked up in our homes like prisoners without charges, hunting for joy to hold off our grief. Despite all that we did, many were depressed and many others were saddened, and even some commit suicide. We were walking alone, most of the time, in the city, seeing the streets, shops and restaurants empty and dismal as if we were in a lifeless ghost city. We couldn’t visit our patients in the hospital or accompany our relatives and had to wait in parking lots as if we were infected with plague. We, as physicians, tried to cultivate hope and light a small candle figuratively so people would believe that there was a light at the end of tunnel—but we ourselves didn’t know how long the tunnel was and when the candle would fade. Personally, I have never thought about early retirement before the pandemic although I have worked in places that were never easy. But during the pandemic, with high work pressure, the difficulty of life and the fading desire to continue working in such conditions, leaving work early crossed my mind. In the past 15 months, we lost around 26,000 Canadians to COVID-19 and the number is still rising. We still see more than 500 infected cases a day, some businesses are still closed and we are still unable to freely socialize but the difference is: we have big hope now and we can see a clear light at the end of the tunnel. The main reason behind such progress, beside public health restrictions, was the massive vaccination campaign and Canada is so far a leader among other countries in this campaign. We have come a long way in liberating ourselves from our prisons, and it is becoming possible to return our lives to the way they were or close to it. We are closer than ever to being able to visit our relatives and friends, see our patients in clinics, and return to our businesses. We must not retreat, but rather stand in the face of those who try to hinder us in our progress. I used to be slightly lenient in the past with those who refused to vaccinate their children with the regular vaccines because the negative impact on society wasn’t that strong. However, I didn’t give up in continuing to negotiate with them, and my continuation in negotiating with them did not increase my risk to contract any kind of infection as keeping their children without vaccination does not pose a major risk to society. All research and studies have shown that the number of COVID-19 cases have decreased significantly in vaccinated people, the death rate is tremendously less which means the COVID-19 vaccines work—and work well. By vaccinating everyone, we would be able to reconquer our kidnapped lives which disappeared in a glimpse of our eyes. Anti-vaxxers are still posing a major risk to others and they may hinder our progress and success. Are we ready to let them ruin our lives again, separate us from our loved people, our patients and shut down our businesses? We may need to be firm with anti-vaxxers and I believe that Canada should put personal freedom aside when it comes to COVID-19 vaccination. They have to be warned and if they, despite that, still decline vaccination, they have to face the consequences such as denying them travel and access to some public services. How about our patients who refuse to be vaccinated? Shall we fire them or restrict their visits? I don't know what our provincial colleges might have to say about that but the questions certainly have come up in my mind. It is people’s lives which anti-vaxxers are risking. Dr. Jabir Jassam is a family physician who works at Health Treasure Medical Centre in Ottawa.

Should we fire anti-vaxxer patients?

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