Of Djokovic, Covid-19 vaccine and freedom of choice

I will declare upfront that I am a Novak Djokovic fan and believe that he is the greatest tennis player of all time 🙂. I got a double jab of the Covid-19 vaccine and have argued for the vaccine based on the information put forward by the health experts. I am very much aware of the risk of bias but when I step back and think whether my opinions below would be different had it not been Djokovic, the answer is no.

The background

Novak Djokovic has been by far the most dominant tennis player of the last decade. Unfortunately, despite his exploits on the tennis court, he is the least liked of the big 3, the other two being Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. There are many reasons for this but I will not dwell on them suffice to say that he has not been short of controversy on and off the court.

When the Covid-19 vaccine was rolled out, he indicated that he was not going to take it and since then, he chose not to disclose whether he was vaxxed or not. Fast forward to 4 January 2022, he posted on Instagram that he was off to Australia to compete in the first grand slam of the year, the Australian Open, a tournament he has totally dominated, holding a record breaking 9 titles. Was he now vaccinated? No, rather, he indicated that he had been granted an exemption permission on the basis that he had contracted Covid-19 on 16 December 2021 and recovered. Without this, he would not have been able to enter Australia and consequently play at the tennis tournament.

This sparked an outcry in Australia and across the world. Why was he getting special treatment? Why was he being allowed to break the rules? The fact that Australia was one of the countries subjected to prolonged lockdowns did not make it any better. A subsequent poll carried out indicated that over 70% of Australians wanted Djokovic to be deported. Before he even landed in Australia, the issue had become political. To cut the long strong short, when he touched down, he was detained by border control and his visa cancelled but later reinstated after a court appeal. However, the Immigration Minister exercised his special powers and cancelled the visa for the second time, a decision which was upheld by the courts resulting in his deportation.

Personally, i don't believe Djokovic broke any rules. A simple fact to note is that knowing that he was unvaxxed, he would not have travelled to Australia where it not that he was granted a valid visa and an exemption permission. In that respect, he complied with the law. If anyone is to be taken to task, it is the Australian authorities which granted him the exemption permission. The fact that he did not break any law is also apparent in that the second cancellation of his visa was "on grounds of health and good order, and on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so."

The crux of the matter

Here is what made me to write this piece. I get it that the vaccine is good as it reduces the risk of severe illness and hospitalisation and death. I get it that by taking the vaccine, we are reducing the burden to the health system. However, in my layman's opinion, considering that both the vaxxed and unvaxxed can still contract and spread the virus and that chances of recovery are comparatively high for the young with no pre existing conditions, should vaccination really be mandatory? Should governments not rather persuade citizens about the benefits of the vaccine as well as fight vaccine misinformation than force them to be vaxxed or risk losing access to certain services? I believe the former makes more sense.

The devastation caused by Covid-19 in terms of loss of lives and livelihoods as well as the cost to economies is without question but is it worth sacrificing the freedom of choice, which in itself is a fundamental human right? Is this not a slippery slope that can set the precedence for the revocation of freedoms in the future? Conspiracy theory? Far from it. Many people were happy with Djokovic's deportation for his perceived anti-vaxx opinions but who knows if tomorrow, the same special powers invoked by the Australian minister will not be used to squash freedoms of people who the powers that be consider to be a threat to their interests or for any other flimsy reason? In their ruling upholding of the minister's cancellation of the visa, the judges indicated that Australia's laws make it clear that there is no requirement for “natural justice” or procedural fairness. Rather, the minister just had to be satisfied that Djokovic’s mere presence “is or may be, or might be, a risk to the health, safety or good order of the Australian community or a segment of it.” 

Why Djokovic has my respect

To many people, this matter was pretty simple and straightforward. Djokovic was just supposed to get vaxxed like everyone else and he would have been saved from the mess he found himself in. After all, the Australian Open has always been his favourite hunting ground and it presented him with a good opportunity to pull ahead of his two rivals in the grand slam count. I do not know his reasons for not getting vaxxed and I cannot say I support his stance. He has however stood by his convictions inspite of the great cost to himself, his reputation and career. He has not felt pressured to make a decision on the basis that everyone else is doing it without getting convinced himself that it is the right thing to do. For how long he will continue to stand, I do not know but one thing I know is that it will be difficult as vaccine mandates continue being rolled out in Europe, a case in point being Austria and France.

I will leave you with a few questions to ponder on. I'm no longer talking about the vaccine. How many would stand by what they believe in even if this came at a great personal cost? How many would still stand by their convictions if holding these convictions put them in the minority? Many a time, is the fact that everyone else is doing it not good enough to go with the flow even when our hearts tell us otherwise? Faced with a choice, would many not take the straight, wide and easy path not because they believe that it is the right one, but because of lack of courage to take the crooked, narrow and bumpy alternative?

While we learn everyday and should be open to new information, people who have a set of convictions, values, beliefs or principles and actually stick to them have my utmost respect.