On Fri, Jan 23, 2026 at 09:04:05AM -0600, Gunnar Wolf wrote: >... > ## The **minimum** expected behaviour for all of our attendees is: >... > - You SHOULD get vaccinated against at least the most common infectious > diseases (COVID, flu) weeks or months before coming to DebConf. >... > ## The conference organisers will: > > - Strongly recommend vaccines for infectious diseases before attending > debconf (covid, flu, etc.) >...
Chances are that everyone already had multiple covid infections during the past 6 years, which makes it a mostly moot question whether someone got a covid vaccination 5 years ago. I will be eligible for the next covid booster when I reach the age of 75, which is still a few decades away. Non-medical people trying to push covid vaccinations in the year 2026 sounds to me like trying to continue an old culture war where everyone else has moved on years ago. Regarding flu, it's questionable whether conference organisers should give medical advice that contradicts the recommendations from the experts in the field of healthcare. At least here in Europe, flu vaccination tends to not be a recommended vaccination covered by public healthcare for working age people. What conference organisers should do instead is to inform about venue specific vaccination recommendations: Most countries recommend Hepatitis A vaccination for their citizens who visit Argentina, this is something that should be informed about during registration for a DebConf in Argentina. And the region of the venue, in the context of yellow fever vaccination. >... > ## The **minimum** expected behaviour for all of our attendees is: >... > - If you feel a little unwell or just "down", you MUST: > > - Request a COVID-19 self-test from the front-desk. > > - Avoid enclosed spaces with uninfected attendees as much as possible. > > - Wear a mask whenever around others and food. > > - If you know you are infected with something contagious, you MUST: > > - Let the organization know: Email [email protected] > > - Avoid enclosed conference spaces, and instead attend talks remotely. > > - Request isolated accommodation. >... > ## The conference organisers will: >... - Organize DebConf as a hybrid conference, enabling full remote participation for attendees and speakers. Looking at it from my own point of view: Based on experience, when I travel abroad where I go through two airports and one or more trains my assumption is that I will catch some contagious disease during the travel. For myself I just do whatever mitigation is required for the symptoms (which tend to be mild), and I do not really care whether the inevitable infection is a cold or a flu or some other contagious disease. I do care about the people I visit, spending Christmas alone or cancelling a travel a few hours before takeoff are actions I have each done multiple times and would do again without hesitation whenever it is the best option to protect the people I would have visited. >... > - You SHOULD test for current infectious diseases before starting to travel > to DebConf. Recovering at home is much more fun than staying two weeks > locked down at the hotel room >... Someone asking my on the evening before travel to take a covid test and me asking "Why?" is a "cancelling a travel a few hours before takeoff" story - it doesn't matter whether I was infected before the travel when the main infection risk is during the travel. >... > - Be excellent to each other. Understand that some attendees are more at > risk than others, and we don't all take the same risks in handling > infectious disease. >... DebConf organisers should also be excellent by organizing a hybrid conference instead of excluding people like me from participation. cu Adrian
