Are the unvaccinated becoming modern-day lepers?

Will ‘health taxes’, fines, bans on foreign travel and a French strategy of ‘pissing them off’ nudge anti-vaxxers towards the COVID-19 jab?

Anti-vaccine protesters march against children’s vaccinations and vaccine passports in London, September 2021. Andrea Domeniconi / Alamy Stock Photo

From Italy to Iran, opinion — and policy positions — are hardening against those who refuse COVID vaccines. At the same time, opposition to vaccine mandates remains fierce and a weary world faces an impasse over the best way to manage the pandemic.

Republican governors in the US continue to push the cause of the vaccine-resistant, signing laws that bar companies and schools from insisting on vaccination for their employees.

Meanwhile, Quebec has announced a ‘health tax ‘ — Canada’s first — on those who refuse COVID jabs for non-medical reasons.

And the world’s top-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic, Serbia’s best-known vaccine sceptic, has opened up a difficult prospect for international sport. Should ant…