The West faces descending into a two-tiered society of the “jabbed” and “jabbed-nots” in which the unvaccinated will become “modern-day social lepers”, Brexit leader Nigel Farage has warned.
In a video published on his personal YouTube channel, Mr Farage pointed to comments made by New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who openly and gleefully admitted this week that she is in favour of creating a two-tiered society in which vaccinated people are afforded more rights.
Other figures on the left, such as former MIT linguistics professor Noam Chomsky, have seconded such a call, saying that unvaccinated people should be “isolated” from society. Chomsky went so far as to dismiss concerns over how the unvaccinated would eat, saying that it’s “their problem”.
The Brexit leader also pointed to Austria, where the recently installed Chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, has laid out a winter lockdown plan in which vaccinated people would not face stay-at-home orders and other restrictions but the unvaccinated would.
While the British government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson has shied away from introducing measures such as vaccine passports, the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales have introduced mandates, despite serious ramifications for the hospitality industry, for example.
Mr Farage said that the justification for creating a two-tiered society was undercut by comments from Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who admitted last week that the vaccine does not prevent people from catching or spreading the Chinese coronavirus.
“I think it was one of those Boris-isms, where he just speaks out says what he really thinks and then they do their best to bury it,” the Brexiteer said.
Farage said that central governments throughout the world have used the Chinese coronavirus pandemic to increase their power and to take away liberties from the people.
Though the 57-year-old long-time smoker said that it made sense to take the vaccine in his circumstances, Farage said that he respects “the rights of those who don’t wish for whatever reason to have the jab”.
“I don’t want to live in a two-tier society, don’t want to live in a society where those who for reasons of conscience or belief don’t choose to be jabbed become effectively social outcasts… the whole thing is completely and utterly loathsome,” he said.
The populist leader called on the British public to keep up the pressure on their local MPs to defy any push from the supposedly libertarian Prime Minister to implement vaccine passports in England.
In an opinion piece in Newsweek, Mr Farage urged Americans to resist the worldwide push to restrict freedoms for the unvaccinated.
“Americans — being unique in the Western world about their willingness to protect their God-given rights — should appreciate the importance of maintaining freedoms for all of a nation’s citizens, not just those who fall into politically or medically expedient categories at any given time,” he wrote.
Mr Farage continued: “I hope Americans can find it within themselves to tolerate the decisions of their fellow citizens, rather than bumbling into a class-based society that will not stop at two jabs, two jabs and a booster, two jabs and two boosters, or more.
“Freedom is only ever one generation away from extinction, as President Ronald Reagan once said. Let it not be this one.”
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka