“Get vaxed!” is the message The Bureau Podcast co-host Andy Tran has for people who have access to a Covid-19 vaccine but are holding off from getting it.
“We’re a community at the end of the day. We’ve got to do what’s best for the community,” he says in the latest episode of The Bureau Podcast recorded on Friday, Aug. 20 and can be listened to below.
His comments come after host Matt Cowan asks Andy and fellow co-host Melanie Casul what they think about the possibility of vaccine passports being required to travel, eat at restaurants, drink at bars and attend events in Ho Chi Minh City in the near future.
I don’t understand why 17% said no! What’s wrong with you!?
Andy, co-host, The Bureau Podcast
He also asks his co-hosts what they think the passports will look like and how such a policy will be policed should it come into effect.
“Are these vaccination passports applicable…the rules and regulations in Ho Chi Minh City…is it going to be the same policy in Hanoi? asks Mel. “And more importantly, is it going to be the same policy in Asia? Throughout the world?”
Mel says she has serious and legitimate concerns about the practicalities of vaccine passports, as not all vaccines have been approved in countries like the US and Australia, for instance, potentially preventing people like her parents from visiting family living abroad.
“These so-called vaccine passports might be useless anyway,” she says when describing a recent experience at a local clinic in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 7. “I told the clinic people that I’d already got my vaccine, this is my certificate from the vaccine provider and they said, ‘No, that means nothing. You still have to get the rapid Covid test in order to see the doctor.'”
The rapid Covid test cost Mel an extra VND350,000 (approx. US$15) on top of her consultation.
“How about the other basic services? Private services that might refuse to let people enter their premises?” she asks.
In an online poll during the week, Matt gauged Bureau follower sentiment in regard to the topic.
The results indicated that 83% of respondents said they would be okay with it if people were required to produce a vaccine passport when asked on entry to a venue, while 17% said they wouldn’t be okay with it.
“I don’t understand why 17% said no! What’s wrong with you?!” responds Andy when Mel asks for his opinion on the results. “Are these civil libertarians, with this, I deserve my right, my body, my right type of stuff?”
Listen to the full episode below.
Words by Matthew Cowan. Follow Matt on Instagram at @mattcowansaigon
Follow Melanie Casul on Instagram at @melaniecasul
Follow Andrew Tran on Instagram at @andrewtrandigital
Follow The Bureau Asia on Instagram at @thebureauasia
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