A World Health Organization (W.H.O.) official said coronavirus vaccine mandates should be an “absolute last resort” during a press conference on Tuesday. 

“Mandates around vaccination are an absolute last resort and only applicable when all feasible options to improve vaccination uptake have been exhausted,” W.H.O. Europe regional director Hans Kluge said, according to Business Insider. 

Kluge noted that “the effectiveness of mandates” depends on the context. 

“What is acceptable in one society and community may not be effective and acceptable in another,” he continued. 

Kluge said that while vaccine mandates have worked in some places, forcing people to get vaccinated can actually erode “public confidence and public trust.” Instead, he said governments should reach out to communities first before mandating vaccination. 

The regional director also talked about how coronavirus restrictions, like limiting movement, could result in mental health problems and put domestic violence victims at risk. 

Kluge’s comments come as countries all over the world continue to infringe on the rights of the unvaccinated and blame them for the prolonging of the pandemic, despite the fact that vaccinated individuals are also able to carry and spread the virus. 

President Joe Biden speaks in the State Dining Room at the White House, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2021, in Washington. Biden is announcing sweeping new federal vaccine requirements affecting as many as 100 million Americans in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Australia, for example, is putting unvaccinated individuals into quarantine camps — one woman claims she was held in a camp for 14 days despite testing negative for the virus. 

In Germany, outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a de facto lockdown of the unvaccinated; Germany’s parliament will also soon vote on making vaccination mandatory.

European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen has called for discussions regarding the implementation of forced vaccination throughout the entire EU in a move that has been described as the “Chinafication of Europe.”

In the United States, several of President Joe Biden’s federal vaccine mandates have been temporarily halted or shut down by the judicial branch, though city and state leaders have continued to implement their own mandates. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the “first in the nation” measure on Monday morning, mandating the coronavirus vaccine for all private-sector employees starting December 27 in a supposed attempt to combat the Omicron variant.