Coronavirus: How mandatory is the vaccine in Ecuador (and what discussions does the measure raise)?

Ecuador has dictated that it is mandatory for all its citizens to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 and thus avoid the hit of the omicron variant of the coronavirus. The government of Guillermo Lasso thus becomes the first to take such a measure in Latin America.

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The decision came on Christmas Eve when the country had already added more than 540 thousand infected and almost 34 thousand deaths. It should also be taken into account that, since last week, the occupation of beds FIA it increased between 24% and 77% in several hospitals in our neighbor to the north.

In addition, as “El País” recalls, 12.4 million Ecuadorians -which represents close to the 77.2% of the total population-, you have already received two doses of the vaccine, while about 950 thousand already have the third dose.

The decision of the Guillermo Lasso administration, however, has opened the door to an ethical and legal debate on which it would be worthwhile to put the magnifying glass.

“I understand ethics as the set of norms or procedures that serve a community, not a single individual“, Explain Mario Paredes, epidemiologist of the Naval Health Directorate of the Ecuadorian Navy and professor at the Catholic University of Santiago de Guayaquil. “In that sense, the vaccine works as a preventive measure that gives priority to the collective good. In the event of a pandemic or public health problem, this should be a standard that overlaps any other“, Add.

Paredes proposes an example: from an outbreak of measles In a nest, the director of the institution asks parents to vaccinate their children to prevent the spread of the disease and make them sick.

“And one of the parents says no because he is against the vaccine. What does the director have to do to sustain the common good? Tell the child that he cannot go”.

“From my point of view, it is not valid for people to take refuge in human rights and say that they have the right to resist. On the other hand, I do recognize the human right to access to health, which must be guaranteed by the countries”.

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The legal and citizen gaze

“From what is being seen, it seems that the public has responded positively”, Notes the Ecuadorian analyst Sebastián Mantilla. “There is widespread acceptance and positive effects are emerging”.

Mantilla notes that in Ecuador exists “a certain awareness that the only alternative to be able to“Survive the coronavirus is the vaccine.

“I do not know if it can be compared with the experiences of other countries, but the situation that was generated in Guayaquil during the 2020, when people died in the streets or at the entrances of hospitals, it made a great impression”.

“I think that is why there was a great welcome to the vaccination process which, in general terms, has been one of the best efforts of the Lasso government”.

But Mantilla clarifies that, after the government said that vaccination was going to be mandatory, it clarified several aspects of vital importance, such as that they will not “punish people who do not get vaccinated”.

“What they said was that those who are not vaccinated will be restricted from accessing public places such as cinemas, shopping centers, etc. That is to say, vaccination is not strictly mandatory”.

Mantilla adds that, beyond legal debates, “the president has the legal support to publish this decree”, Which is protected by article 83.7 of the Constitution.

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Paredes, for his part, argues that, although the government’s intention is to encourage people to get vaccinated, it also leaves them with other options to develop in public life, such as showing a discard PCR test.

However, from Paredes’ point of view, that the government has decided to communicate its decision using the word “obligatory“, it’s a mistake.

“Not even the World Health Organization o la Pan American Health Organization they understand vaccination as something mandatory. What they do is suggest that, within their sanitary standards, as many people as possible do it”.

“But it is not a mandatory requirement”.

The use of inappropriate terms generates, Paredes notes, more polarization on an issue that already generates debate.

Regarding the future of the measure, the epidemiologist notes that it is possible that, as in other latitudes, a black market of false vaccination cards will be generated. “Both in Peru and Ecuador, we suffer from the same phenomenon, the Creole vividness”.

“It is part of the human condition. Anything you forbid becomes more attractive. In this case, everything that becomes mandatory will cause some to act in the opposite direction. It will not be the majority, but there will always be someone willing to be a revolutionary”.

The president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso. EFE (RIcardo Maldonado /)

Europeans who follow a similar path

As well as Ecuador, there are countries in Europe who are willing to make vaccination against the coronavirus mandatory. Austria, for example, “plans to pass a bill“That will govern”as of February 1, 2022 and which provides fines of up to 7,200 euros for people who refuse to vaccinate”.

GreeceFor his part, he commanded that, as of January 16, those who do not get vaccinated will have to pay a fine of 100 euros per month until they do. Germany I could follow those steps. According to France 24, “mandatory vaccination is expected to apply in February-March 2022″.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, also spoke about it, and said that it was “appropriate and reasonable to now have this discussion”.

However, it could take a long time from debate to action.

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