• Login
  • Register
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In
The Daily Sceptic
No Result
View All Result

NHS Compulsory Vaccination as an Example of Doublethink

by Will Jones
10 November 2021 12:30 PM

There follows a guest post by Dr. Peter Hayes, a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Sunderland, who spies a touch of Orwellian propaganda in the Government’s mixed messages on NHS staff and vaccination.

On November 9th, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced that all frontline NHS staff must be double vaccinated by April 2022 or lose their jobs. In relaying this news, the BBC first explained the April deadline as being one that would allow staff “enough time” to get the jabs. This, of course, is nonsense: any adult who wants to get twice vaccinated has already had ample time to do so. Insofar as “enough time” means anything, it is a version of the parental ploy: “I am going to count to three, and if you don’t do what you are told by then, I will…”, the only difference being that the threat is not “send you to bed without any supper” but “sack you”. 

The BBC soon replaced this lame explanation of the April deadline with a new one of breathtaking audacity. NHS staff had to be vaccinated against Covid, yes, but the deadline was delayed until April so that unvaccinated staff could be on hand to help cope with the winter pressure on the NHS; pressure that is anticipated as a result of the combined effects of Covid and flu. 

This second explanation provides a textbook example of doublethink, one that is as good, if not better, than the original illustration given by George Orwell. In 1984 doublethink allows the regime to shift at will between (1) a false account of reality that is held for ideological reasons, and (2) a true account of reality that is kept handy for practical purposes. Thus, it is explained that (1) The world is the centre of the universe with the sun and nearby stars going round it. However, for the purpose of navigating the oceans, (2) the earth orbits the sun and the stars are vastly distant. So it is with the compulsory vaccination, by April, of NHS staff.  First we have the false account. 

(1) Vaccination protects the recipient against acquiring and transmitting Covid. Therefore, in order not to spread Covid, NHS staff must be vaccinated. 

But for the practical purpose of dealing with the winter surge in hospitalisations – Covid included – there is a shift to the true account.  

(2) Vaccination does not, in fact, protect the recipient against acquiring and transmitting Covid. Therefore, unvaccinated NHS staff can perfectly well help deal with the anticipated winter surge without making things worse. 

When it comes to the spring, let us hope that, like the parent counting to three, the Government will find a way to back down on its threat (“One, Two, …Two-and-a-Half…”). But perhaps we do not need to worry about this too much. For if the Government does dismiss those who stubbornly remain unvaccinated, and then come the next winter the NHS finds itself short staffed, in accordance with the principles of doublethink, the Government can simply rehire them. 

Tags: DoublethinkGeorge OrwellMandatory VaccinesNHS

Donate

We depend on your donations to keep this site going. Please give what you can.

Donate Today

Comment on this Article

You’ll need to set up an account to comment if you don’t already have one. We ask for a minimum donation of £5 if you'd like to make a comment or post in our Forums.

Sign Up
Previous Post

Mandatory Vaccination Will Only Persuade 20,000 Out of 70,000 Unvaccinated NHS Staff to Get Jabbed, According to Government Predictions

Next Post

How did we go from clapping our carers to sacking our carers?

Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please log in to comment

To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.

Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.

36 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

NEWSLETTER

View today’s newsletter

To receive our latest news in the form of a daily email, enter your details here:

DONATE

PODCAST

Episode 36 of the Sceptic: Karl Williams on Starmer’s Phoney Immigration Crackdown, Dan Hitchens on the Assisted Suicide Bill and Tom Jones on Reform’s Local Council Challenge

by Richard Eldred
16 May 2025
0

LISTED ARTICLES

  • Most Read
  • Most Commented
  • Editor’s Picks

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

15 May 2025
by Will Jones

News Round-Up

16 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

The Folly of Solar – a Dot on the Horizon Versus a Blight on the Land

16 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

16 May 2025
by Will Jones

The Folly of Solar – a Dot on the Horizon Versus a Blight on the Land

29

Civil Servants Threaten to Strike Over Trans Ban in Women’s Lavatories

26

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

19

News Round-Up

18

Chinese ‘Kill Switches’ Found in US Solar Farms

27

Trump’s Lesson in Remedial Education

16 May 2025
by Dr James Allan

Spy Agency Report on the Alleged “Extremism” of AfD Turns Out to Be So Stupid That it Destroys all Momentum for Banning the Party

16 May 2025
by Eugyppius

The Folly of Solar – a Dot on the Horizon Versus a Blight on the Land

16 May 2025
by Ben Pile

Renaud Camus on the Destruction of Western Education

15 May 2025
by Dr Nicholas Tate

‘Why Can’t We Talk About This?’

15 May 2025
by Richard Eldred

POSTS BY DATE

November 2021
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930  
« Oct   Dec »

SOCIAL LINKS

Free Speech Union
  • Home
  • About us
  • Donate
  • Privacy Policy

Facebook

  • X

Instagram

RSS

Subscribe to our newsletter

© Skeptics Ltd.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Articles
  • About
  • Archive
    • ARCHIVE
    • NEWS ROUND-UPS
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Premium
  • Donate
  • Log In

© Skeptics Ltd.

wpDiscuz
You are going to send email to

Move Comment
Perfecty
Do you wish to receive notifications of new articles?
Notifications preferences