RIGHT TO REFUSE VACCINES
Not everyone wants a vaccine. Even during times of pandemic, such as the present Covid-19 situation. Every Canadian should weigh carefully the benefits and the dangers of receiving a vaccine and then make a choice for themselves. In a free society citizens should not be coerced, manipulated or threatened for the choice that they have made to receive or refuse a vaccine. In other words, a decision to refuse taking a vaccine should never cause someone to lose their job, restrict their movement, restrict their interaction with others or cause them to lose any of their rights and freedoms. Having the right to choose or refuse is a part of our human rights that we have come to expect as Canadians.
Many Canadians view vaccines as unnecessary because they have maintained a strong natural immunity system. I feel like I have done so by taking vitamin supplements, particularly vitamin D and vitamin C, and by living an active lifestyle with much exercise and outdoor activity. Keeping yourself healthy is a key factor in not contracting viruses and so far it is working very well for myself and many others.
The idea of mandatory vaccinations is based on the presumption that artificial immunity is superior to natural immunity. However, many do not accept that premise. One objection to vaccines is that they actually disrupt and undermine our natural immune systems, making them weaker. Another objection is because of the many side effects of vaccines. Even vaccine manufacturers insert warnings on the packaging of some vaccines warning of side effects which may include brain damage, life threatening allergic reactions and even death.
There is a flip-side to vaccinations and that is the dangers of side effects. Vaccines are complex biochemical substances that can rightly be called drugs. The reaction to having these biochemical substances injected into a person may be positive or may be negative, or may have both positive and negative effects. Those effects may be different for different people because our systems are not identical. One person may show no negative effects while another person may exhibit a strong allergic reaction and even go into anaphylactic shock (Which could kill them).
The problem with mandating vaccines is that they treat everyone alike, not recognizing the difference in peoples' systems, a one-size-fits-all approach. Mandatory vaccinations do not take into consideration a person's individual state of health, their health history, pre-existing conditions or genetic background. If you don't experience a negative reaction, then you mabe don't care. However, if you do experience a negative reaction, you may end up being very, very sick.
Sadly, people becoming very, very sick after receiving a vaccination has been the experience of many. I wish that I had Canadian statistics for how many people this would be. However consider that in the United States a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was set up in the 1980s to compensate people for vaccine injuries. Since the time of its creation there have been 20,000 petitions for vaccine injuries and the U.S. government has paid out over 4 billion dollars in compensation.
How much has the Canadian government paid out in compensation for vaccine injuries? The situation is different here. Liberal governments are very pro-vaccine and vaccine injuries are not really recognized. Liberals would like vaccine safety to be regarded as a settled issue. Canada is one of only two G-20 countries that has no national compensation program for vaccine injuries. However, the province of Quebec has a program of their own.
Vaccination is an invasive medical procedure that breaks the skin, which from a legal standpoint classifies it as surgery. Consequently, it caries with it the risks of injury and even death, and is subject to the legal principles contained in Canadian Medical Law. Vaccines are complex biochemical substances and to require them to be injected into a person against their will and without their consent is legally called “battery.”
Every Canadian has the right to be free from unwanted physical interference. A patient must also be informed of the medical risks, regardless of how statistically small or great those statistics may be.
Medical Law is in place to protect a citizen’s right to physical autonomy and full participation in decision making regarding medical treatment. In the Canadian Charter Of Rights, citizens are promised rights to “security of the person.” “Security of the person” is actually a basic entitlement guaranteed by the United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, enacted in 1948. This usually refers to a person's right not to be imprisoned unlawfully. However, in Canadian Law “security of the person” extends to defend the “rights to privacy of the body and its health.”
Mandating vaccinations would violate this security of the person and individual physical autonomy.
It is because of our laws of informed medical consent that vaccine manufacturers include warning statements that their vaccine may cause brain damage, life threatening allergic reactions and even death. However, it is rare that patients receiving a vaccine are given these warnings to read for themselves. This is leaving the door wide open to serious lawsuits if this information is not provided.
Canadians want to know what dangers they are opening themselves up to by receiving a vaccination and, after thinking it over, they want the right to refuse that vaccine if they so choose.
This should be recognized as a fundamental human right.
The right to refuse a vaccine is the right to self-determination over our own body. This is fundamental in a free society.
For society to be free, citizens need to be informed of the dangers of vaccines and be allowed to refuse a vaccine. If they refuse a vaccine they must be allowed to keep their job, and to continue to enjoy all of the other rights and freedoms that other Canadians enjoy. This is fundamental to human rights.
Not everyone wants a vaccine. Covid-19 vaccines are now out. It have not undergone the usual ten-year trial testing period. In the frantic rush to provide immunization for the public, will the rights of all Canadians be respected? Will the public be given all of the information that is legally required to be given to them, for them to make an informed consent or an informed refusal? Or will the whole emphasis of government and employers be to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible? Will the sensitivities of Canadians who would rather not compromise their own natural immune systems and would not like to risk side effects like brain damage, chronic illness or death be respected? Should we not have the right to refuse invasive medical procedures that inject complex biochemical substances into our own bodies? Do we not have a legal right to our own bodies, to security of the person, rights to privacy of the body and its health and individual physical autonomy? Our individual state of health, individual health history, and individual pre-existing conditions or genetic background may cause our own body to react differently to a vaccine than the way another person's body would react. At present the Covid 19 vaccines are not mandatory. Will this freedom to choose continue? Will this freedom continue or will there be conditions and consequences to refusing the vaccines? Unless I move to Quebec there is no vaccine injury compensation program to compensate myself or my family for the potential life-long injuries or death than I might suffer from receiving a vaccine injection.
Not everyone wants a vaccine, but my family and I do want and need for me to keep my job. Therefore, we need the government to make commitments to Canadians in the form of Bills and formalized laws that clearly state and guarantee that:
1)Vaccines will always be voluntary and not mandatory.
2)That the rights and freedoms of Canadians will not be over-ridden to expedite mass vaccination.
3)That employers may not dismiss an employee from his or her job on the basis of them refusing a vaccine.
4)That in job interviews candidates for employment will not be asked whether or not they have received a vaccine.
5)That Canadians who refuse a vaccine will still keep all of the same rights and freedoms that other Canadians enjoy.
6)That anyone offered a vaccine must also be informed of the risks.
7) That we will still be allowed to travel and leave Canada without being required to vaccinate.
At this present time in Canada, vaccines are not mandatory. However, in Ontario and New Brunswick proof of immunization was made mandatory for children to attend school. In New Brunswick this was bill 11 and it has since been struck down.
Human rights are important to Canadians. Human rights do not become less important during times of national crisis. If anything, they become more important because they are at greater risk of being lost. Thank you for reading my concerns. God bless you.
Barney Sneiderman, Prof. John O. Irvine, Philip H. Osborne – Canadian Medical Law – Introduction for Physicians, Nurses and Other Health Care Professionals – Second Edition, 1995 Carswell Thompson Professional Publishing.