There has been a lot in the recent news, written and televised about what steps might be taken to get those anti-vaxxers acquiesce be inoculated. When the premier of Quebec announced what has been termed a "Vax Tax" there were supporters and detractors on both sides, ranging from politicians, lawyers. the public and those who identify themselves as "ethicists". Andrew Coyne of Canada's Globe and Mail wrote a fairly comprehensive and balanced view of the issue in the January 14th issue: "Calm down. Quebec's tax on the unvaccinated may be a stretch but it's hardly the assault on liberty critics claim."

Anti-vaxxers scream at mandates (more likely to be a fine or prohibition on entering certain enterprises) as an assault on freedom, non-constitutional or contravening the Canada Health Act. They may have either forgotten or never knew or thought about the ideas pertaining to the Quebec proposal (already in place in Austria and partially in other European countries). The ideas behind the concept of the "common good" goes back to ancient times and is in the Christian-Judeo tradition (the Golden Rule: "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". In North America almost all settlements by Europeans established in their own communities "the Commons" often in the centre of town, usually in close proximity to the town's church or seat of legislative power. It was generally agreed that those living in the community respected the commons and would do nothing to defile it or compromise its central place in the community. Notwithstanding the often disrespectful or dismissive way the indigenous population which previously lived on the property was treated—the concept of the Commons was adopted by those early communities.

In more recent times the ideas of the Commons have been expanded to include the principles of public health and public safety (the motor vehicle act), prohibitions on "spitting" in public or more recently prohibitions on smoking in closed environments and business establishments. But it has not all happened in one fell swoop. I can recall in the fall of 1989, booking a flight to Vancouver: I requested a seat in the non-smoking section. The agent told me with my so called economy class ticket, I could only book my seat in person at the check-in counter. I told her for medical reasons I could not sit next to or near a smoker- to which she replied, "we cannot accommodate you unless you have a medical note" to which I replied, "I am a doctor and am requesting such a seat on medical reasons". She gave me a non-smoking seat. In December the law in Canada changed so that it was prohibited to smoke on domestic Canadian flights. The change took longer in the US and overseas. There was a lot of push-back from smokers as an infringement on their "rights": but very quickly most airlines adopted the same policy. It is hard to imagine now that it was possible to be in that cramped space with a smoker on either side of you, and front and back. Smoking in airports took time to become taboo—I can recall passing a "smoking room" in an American airport, lined with pine—which I thought was befitting the likely future of the smokers, who were not just inhaling their own smoke but the second-hand smoke of their fellow comrades in that enclosed space.