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© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Reuse permitted under CC BYNC. No commercial reuse. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. INTRODUCTION In a recent article published in this journal, Bardosh et al set out to ‘outline a comprehensive set of hypotheses’ for why COVID19 vaccine policies (namely, vaccination mandates and passports) ‘may cause more harm than good’. A clear articulation of potential unintended consequences is crucial for the ethical evaluation of any policy, including COVID19 vaccine policies. While the authors raise some important considerations, their treatment of the potential unintended consequences of COVID19 vaccine policies contains several shortcomings that may mislead, rather than assist, the ethical evaluation of such policies. This paper aims to complement Bardosh et al’s (hereafter: ‘the authors’) analysis to further inform the evaluation of potential unintended consequences of COVID19 vaccine policies.