Ep 013: Omicron and the Role of Vaccine Mandates

It is now two months since the last community case in Hong Kong and the bubble with the mainland is due to open in the next few weeks. In our latest podcast Doctor David Owens and Professor Ben Cowling discuss the current situation in Hong Kong and the potential implications of the Omicron variant recently identified in South Africa. They discuss the dilemmas around vaccine hesitancy in the context of zero covid and specifically the threat of low vaccination rates in the vulnerable elderly. They also discuss the role of booster doses and the philosophical arguments around vaccine mandates.