EP 27: The Consequences of Vaccine Mandates

Last week, amid growing pressure, the Canadian government suspended vaccine mandates for domestic and outbound international air and rail travel — as well as for the federal civil service and the federally regulated transportation sectors. But this debate is far from over, as the government stated that it will not hesitate to reimplement vaccine mandates in the future.

The question is: Is such a policy backed by science? A recent peer-reviewed paper in the BMJ Global Health medical journal argues that vaccine mandates are, in fact, scientifically questionably — and likely to do more societal harm than good. Tara's guest today is the lead author on that paper, and he hopes to trigger a broader public conversation about pandemic policy.

Kevin Bardosh is a Canadian social and political scientist and an expert in global public health. He’s an affiliate assistant professor at the University of Washington, an honorary lecturer at the Edinburgh Medical School, and has worked on Zika control in Haiti and on Ebola in Africa. He joins Tara today to talk about the unintended consequences of COVID-19 vaccine policy.

You can find Tara Henley on Twitter at @TaraRHenley, and on Substack at tarahenley.substack.com