我的《信報》文章(2010年1月13日A16頁頂)
第三稿
《全民接種疫苗 與 國際競爭力》
當致命且具高度傳染性的病毒流行時，對社交行為不予規管、對輕病情者不予檢疫，是變相把政府用作懲罰專有的「免責損害權力」普及化(演繹自法國「生命政治」哲學家福柯（M. Foucault 1926-84）的《必須保衛社會》1975-6) 。
[Note 1]
但在新冠病毒流行初期，眾多西方社會都以保護個人自由和權利為藉口，避免實施嚴格檢疫、規限社交活動。
蘇黎世大學教授Philipp Sarasin 認為，部分歐美政府「為了保護經濟，容忍老人死去…」;以「潛藏背後」(lurking in the
background) 的掩眼法，實際使用「痲瘋病治理模式」(leprosy model)應對疫情(有政府顧問倡議，讓人民染病、部分死亡，從而自然達至群體免疫) 。
而中國則採用「瘟疫治理模式」(plague model)，封鎖武漢及其他區域，可救盡救。近似的是摩洛哥，政府在首宗新冠病例兩週後，以軍用裝甲車於街道布防，實施宵禁。
[Note 2]
經常把人權、人道主義掛在嘴邊的歐美官員，竟然採用草菅人命的方法來處理致命流行病毒，在危難中不自覺地暴露其真面目，令人作嘔(nausea)。
無論各地治理疫情的得失有多少(例如美國得的是股市指數創新高;瑞典得的是經濟迅速反彈、第三季GDP增長4.3％、老弱死後節省大量福利金等等;失的是面子)，隨着踏入接種疫苗的階段，彼此之間的競爭出現新形式。
[Note 3]
香港大學流行病學教授Ben Cowling，在12月29日接受訪問時提示，如果疫苗能有實效幫助接種者清除入侵的病毒，區內有60-70％的人接種，便足以達至群體免疫;但倘若疫苗只能減輕患者病況，則仍然很有可能繼續傳染他人，故必須全民接種，方可切斷傳染鏈。
[Note 4]
由於疫苗的效用在一至兩年內未能確定，較穩妥的做法是盡快完成全民接種。可是，在一眾自由(任意)社會中，許多人傾向(至少在短期內)觀望。
根據近月的訪問調查，法國只有40％的人願意接種疫苗，荷蘭有51％，德國和英國有三分二，美國搖擺不定，介乎50%-66％之間。但是由於幾乎所有的跨境公共交通工具，例如航機、郵輪、鐵路，均會要求乘客持有疫苗接種證書，因此絕大多數人最終都會接種疫苗。換句話說，各地達至全民接種(或全民免疫)
只是時間問題。
[Note 5]
唯這個時間先後差距現象，至少有兩點在國際競爭方面值得深思。
第一，這個先後差距將為快速完成全民接種疫苗的社會，帶來短期(約1-3年)的優勢。最明顯的，也許是「人員流動優勢」及「場所聚集優勢」。
具參考價值的例子是電影票房。中國由於疫情迅速受控，影院去年收入逾二百億元，全球第一。今年首日票房更突破六億，創元旦檔單日最高紀錄。
[Note 6]
倘若進展順利，中國大陸很有可能成為首批完成全民接種疫苗的社會之一;可以像往常一樣，舉行各類跨境活動，包括外交論壇、會議展覽、學術交流、旅遊購物、體育比賽、劇藝表演、電影拍攝等等。
優勝之處是能夠掌握主動，既可增加主場舉辦、招待外賓，亦可頻繁作客拜訪、宣揚國粹。
關鍵之舉不是促進經濟貿易，而是利用競爭對手困於未完成全民接種疫苗的境況，在較少的干擾下，加強一帶一路地區民間面對面的溝通和聯繫。
值得深思的第二點是，時間的先後差距反映較早和較遲完成接種疫苗社會的民智差異。因為必須在緊迫時間內完成缺乏過往參考經驗的接種，對民智是一項嚴苛的考驗。分三個層面討論。
首先是對科學及知識更新的態度。自大流行始，假新聞、陰謀論、錯誤信息等，充斥於各類媒體。由於情況惡劣，聯合國秘書長在2020年4月親自向全球發出警告，將其描述為「全球錯誤信息大流行」(global misinfo-demic) 。
[Note 7]
多倫多大學兩位學者更迅即進行「反智」的研究，三到七月調查了27,615加拿大人，發現反智的態度，「強力地抑制」(powerfully dampen) 人們響應專家建議而改變(戴口罩這類)行為。此等態度不僅會延誤疫苗接種的完成，長期來看，還反映這類社會的整體競爭力正在下降。
[Note 8]
第二是民智的積累基礎。養兵千日，用在一朝;公務員、公職醫療人員均來自社會的公民群體，其組織、實施等能力，反映這個社會的民智達到哪個水平。而通過是次全民疫苗接種運動，這個社會和領導菁英可以學到多少?競爭能力又可以提高多少?
第三是民智對病毒肆虐的反省。疫情下，生命政治在歐洲成為熱話。
近例是德國學者Jörn Ahrens 12月文章，論述病毒流行對年輕人來說，「…最嚴重的影響是鬱悶(boredom)…最大的擔憂是Netflix結業…」;並憂慮一旦政府轉向採用生命政治的治理模式，年輕人很難適應這種新常態。
[Note 9]
復旦大學教授莫偉民是推動生命政治在中國發展的學者之一。他指出此學說的倫理，是從「認識自身」的健康(要有所節制)，到「關切自身」的治理(不肆意享樂)，進而「關切別人」的福祉(2005: 頁238-52)。用古老的智慧來解釋，要成為免疫社會，不是堅持「享樂的滿足」，在疫中參加狂歡派對，而是「經一事，長一智」。
[Note 10]
在北京師範大學做研究的新西蘭學者Michael A. Peters 和Tina Besley，觀察到國人在疫中明白事理、中國官民合作順暢，通過「生命政治」的治理模式，成功控制疫情。
[Note 11]
這項民智省悟的能力，將有助中國快速完成全民接種疫苗，進而以此成就構建一套政治語言，於應對未來的環球健康醫療、氣候變化、生態平衡等問題時，掌握話語權、壯大競爭力。
新冠病毒教舉世驚悟，哪一個民智長進的社會有能力自助、助人，做到保護人口健康、改善生態環境，才會贏得尊重和信任。
Notes for Reference
[Note 1]
Wiki, Michel Foucault
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault
Mauro Bertani and Alessandro Fontana (ed.)
David Macey (transl.) (2003), ‘Michel Foucault “Society Must Be Defended”
Lectures at the College de France 1975-76’, New York: Picador.
“… everyone … had the power of life and
death over his or her neighbors …”
[Note 2]
2020
Mar 31
University
of Zurich ‘Foucault blog’
Understanding
the Coronavirus Pandemic with Foucault?
Philipp
Sarasin (born in 巴塞爾1956) 蘇黎世大學歷史學教授
DOI:
10.13095/uzh.fsw.fb.254
https://www.fsw.uzh.ch/foucaultblog/essays/254/understanding-corona-with-foucault
“… the leprosy model is lurking in the background … let old people die to save the economy, or it becomes factual reality when retirement and nursing homes are abandoned and their inmates die locked up and alone …”
“… the plague model… in Morocco the corona-related curfew is imposed with tanks in the streets and harsh military measures
[Note 3]
Statistics Sweden 2020 Nov 5
GDP indicator: Rebound in the third
quarter
Sweden’s GDP increased by 4.3 percent in
the third quarter of 2020, seasonally adjusted and compared with the second
quarter of 2020, according to the preliminary compilation of the quarterly
national accounts.
[Note 4]
TVB Straight Talk 2020 Dec 29
https://programme.tvb.com/news/straighttalk20160001/episode/20201229/
"How worried should we
be about the mutations of the coronavirus?" Guest: Professor Ben Cowling,
Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Hong Kong
[Note 5]
Yahoo News 2020 Dec 26
https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/french-resistance-covid-vaccine-grows-150922196.html
The percentage of people in France who plan to get vaccinated against Covid-19 has continued
its downward trend, according to the latest government health survey, with just 40 percent now
saying they would likely get the injection.
2020
Dec 9
In the UK, the first country
to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine this week, one in five
people (21%) are unlikely to take the vaccine, although just 8% of those say
they are against vaccines in general.
Two-thirds of the
public (67%) say they are very (42%) or
fairly (25%) likely to take the vaccine, according to a YouGov poll.
In the Netherlands, only 51%
of participants in a July survey said they were open to getting inoculated. As
many as 35,000 people responded to the study, done by current affairs TV show
EenVandaag.
2020 Dec 25 DW News
https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-two-thirds-of-germans-willing-to-receive-covid-vaccine/a-56058868
Coronavirus: Two-thirds of Germans willing to
receive COVID vaccine
2020 Dec 10 ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/americans-increasingly-covid-19-vaccine-poll/story?id=74632280
A new Gallup poll published Dec. 8 shows
that Americans' willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine has ticked up to 63%.
While the height of American willingness
to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was 66% in July, it continued to drop to a low
of 50% in September following an announcement by AstraZeneca that its vaccine
trials had been halted due to adverse reactions in its participants.
[Note 6]
2021
Jan 4 星島日報
std.stheadline.com/daily/article/2322778/日報-中國-元旦電影票房破六億史上最高
（星島日報報道）受疫情影響，中國電影院去年收穫逾兩百億票房，成為全球第一。今年伊始，內地影院再迎升溫，元旦單日電影票房突破六億元人民幣，刷新元旦檔單日票房影史最高紀錄。截至昨日上午十一時許，元旦檔累計電影票房已超過十一億元，現階段仍在持續增長中。
[Note 7]
2020
Apr 14 United Nations news
Hatred
going viral in ‘dangerous epidemic of misinformation’ during COVID-19 pandemic
https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1061682
Secretary-General António Guterres
describes the impact of the coronavirus as “the most challenging crisis we have
faced since the Second World War”, leaving millions scared, and seeking clear
advice on how best to protect themselves and their families.
While it is a time for science and
solidarity, a “global
‘misinfo-demic’ is spreading”, he said in a video message.
[Note 8]
2020 May 15 Center for Open Science
Anti-intellectualism
and the mass public’s response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Merkley, Eric, and Peter J. Loewen
Department of Political Science, University
of Toronto
doi:10.31219/osf.io/agm57.
We find that anti-intellectualism is linked to
lower levels of COVID-19 concern and risk perception, social distancing
compliance, as well as higher levels of misperceptions about COVID-19.
Moreover, anti-intellectualism appears to powerfully dampen
behavioural change in response to expert communications
[Note 9]
2020
Dec 23
The
European Sociologist Issue 45 PANDEMIC (IM)POSSIBILITIES Vol. 1
‘Theorising
— Praise of Biopolitics? The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Will for
Self-Preservation
Jörn
Ahrens
Professor
of Cultural Sociology
Justus-Liebig-University
Giessen, Germany
“…Thus
far, the most serious effect of the pandemic is the rise of boredom
while people are stuck in their homes … … the greatest concern is that Netflix could
collapse.
[Note 10]
《莫偉民講福柯》
作者 莫偉民
出版社 北京大學出版社 2005年09月
ISBN 9787301092378
https://www.cp1897.com.hk/product_info.php?BookId=7301092377
第十講: 福柯”關切別人”的倫理學, 頁238-254
2011-11-21
另一種政治哲學：福柯的“生命政治”
作者：莫偉民 來源：《中國社會科學報》
https://www.sinoss.net/2011/1121/37810.html
[Note 11]
Educational
Philosophy and Theory by Taylor-Francis Online
2020
May 28
Biopolitics,
conspiracy and the immuno-state: an evolving global politico-genetic complex
Michael
A. Peters ORCID Icon &Tina Besley
https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1772026
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2020.1772026
China as immune-state demonstrated the role of a strong socialist state that could act quickly to provide social and geopolitical isolation of neighbourhoods, towns and cities, as well as an enforcement regime. Generally Chinese people welcomed and understood the need for such measures in the collective good…
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