Originally Posted by
Radgirl
At the risk of putting my female foot into the middle of a political and employment debate, may I add some pure science?
The Indian or Delta variant is more transmissable. Much of the developed world is vaccinated. We are getting better at preventing ITU admission and death. 2021 is not the new 2020
As a result the people at risk of death are now the immunosuppresed - those with cancer and on immunosuppressants. Not professional pilots
The rest of the world has little risk of death but over the next 18-36 months everyone (well 98% of everyone) will get vaccinated or infected. That is the choice. The vaccines are very safe - even the risk of myocarditis froim Pfizer is a sixth that of myocarditis froim Covid. I would get vaccinated now purely because of the risk of long covid. Even if it is only 4% (and it is likely much higher) that is a 4% risk of losing my job, losing my medical, and failing to support my family. Sadly the politicians are still stuck in 2020 saying get vaccinated to save granny. Granny is vaccinated and safe. Vaccination is a totally selfish act, and a good one at that. Vaccination does not prevent infection, but you are likely to have only minor symptoms for a few days and no long covid. This will be the case for decades.
As to why Mr Joyce is mandating it, I can think of two reasons: first it is good marketing because most people believe adverts. Personally if I am in a metal tube with 400 plus others it matters not a jot it the dozen or so CC and pilots are vaccinated or not especially as they can still be transmitting. Second, to run an efficient airline you dont want your employees going sick for weeks and weeks. It takes only a handful of key employees to get struck down to create significant financial headwinds.
Considering granny got vaccinated 9-10 months ago, then granny has next to no protection. They are now noticing that the vaccines are losing their affect much earlier than predicted. Starting at 5 months.