Author: Tracey Young. (July 20, 2021). Informed Consent Questions for COVID-19 Vaccines for Personal Health and Employment. Canadian Advocacy Centre for Health, Safety and Justice. Retrieved from: https://canadianadvocacycentre.blogspot.com/2021/07/informed-consent-questions-for-covid-19.html.
Introduction
David Dickson provided this excellent overview of questions that health consumers and patients should ask health professionals who are speaking with them about COVID-19 vaccines, or planning to administer them. These new vaccines are experimental and will remain in clinical trials for two, or three, or more years. Therefore, it is really unclear what all of the health implications are for those who take them. Other articles on this site outline the many Adverse Health reactions people have been experiencing after taking the vaccines around the world.
Video: Informed Consent
Note: David has done a very short, informative video about Informed Consent (only 1:38). Follow the link below as I can't embed the video.
David Dickson. (July 7, 2021). Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yu4ocJ4250.
See below for David's questions. Please consider printing them out and bringing these questions with you when you speak with a health care provider.
Additional questions you should ask BEFORE you get a COVID-19 vaccine include the following:
➤ I have already had/been diagnosed with COVID-19, do I already have immunity?
➤ Why should I receive a COVID-19 vaccine if I already had this virus?
➤ What information and research can you share with me about immunity post-COVID-19?
➤ BEFORE you get a COVID-19 vaccine ask: Can you provide me with a list of all of the ingredients in the vaccine? (They should be able to. If they can't, this is a BIG red flag).
Questions Related to Vaccines and Employment
These are also important questions to ask employers who are encouraging and/or coercing employees to get the vaccines. It is important for workers to check the website of their provincial/state Workers Compensation Board to find out what policies about reporting and benefits for workers who experience Adverse Health reactions if they take the vaccines. Questions to ask employers via email for written documentation, include:
➤ If I get the vaccine and experience an Adverse Health reaction and cannot work, will the employer pay me for all wages lost?
➤ Will the employer's extended health insurance policy and plan cover disability coverage and life insurance for Adverse Health reactions? What kind of medical documentation would be needed for applying for this?
➤ Does the employer consider Adverse Health reactions from the vaccines that they mandated for employees to be a reportable injury to the Workers Compensation Board? If not, why not since it is the employer who is requiring me to get it as a worker.
➤ If I experience Adverse Health reactions after getting the vaccine and I can't work, or if I become permanently disabled, or die, what kind of support will the employer provide to me and my family?
Vaccines – Questions to Ask Your Health Professional or Employer
Author: David Dickson. (July 19, 2021). First published and shared on Facebook.
1. Do you have a list of potential adverse impacts from taking these vaccines? Note: the list covering severe side effects was publicly available from the FDA on 22nd October, 2020. Every health authority has a detailed and updated copy of that list.
2. What are the risks/benefits and alternatives available to me (i.e. treatments or natural immunity confirmed through antibody testing)?
3. Do these vaccines stop me from catching COVID19 or its variants or giving it to someone else?
4. Do these vaccines remove the risk of hospitalization or death from COVID19 or its variants?
5. What are the long-term impacts of taking these vaccines?
6. What if I take one vaccine and because of side-effects/new government guidelines/vaccine availability, subsequent vaccines are not from the same manufacturer? Does that change any of the above?
7. How do these vaccines interact with each other and other vaccines/drugs – in both the short and long term?
8. Will I only need to receive two shots or multiple booster shots as has been proposed by governments worldwide?
9. What happens if I am vaccine injured?
10. How many people have been vaccine injured in this province/state/country?
11. What is the process for reporting a vaccine injury?
12. What are the implications if I won’t take the vaccine?
13. What are the implications if I can’t take the vaccine?
14. What is the overall risk that I will catch, be hospitalized and die from COVID19/its variants compared with the potential risk of injury/death from these vaccines?
15. What is the normal expected target for vaccination for ILI’s in the population?
16. Have we already exceeded that target in the current vaccination program in this province/state/country?
17. Is there any benefit or detriment to you or your practice if I do or do not get this vaccine?
18. Has anyone else that you have seen refused to take the vaccine?
19. Are you aware, directly or indirectly, of any side effects from these vaccines?
20. What changes in all the above questions if I have already had and recovered from COVID19/its variants?
21. What is the difference between an Adenovirus Chimpanzee Vector vaccine, an mRNA vaccine and a traditional vaccine?
22. What do you understand is meant by Informed Consent?
Informed Consent Resources
Video: Informed Consent in health care
Metro South Health. (Nov. 29, 2017) Youtube. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ2GgOjatCA.
Copyright © 2021.Tracey Young/Canadian Advocacy Centre for Health, Safety and Justice. All Rights Reserved.
_____________________________________________
#COVID19 #COVID19vaccines #Canada #cdnpoli #DutytoWarn #DoNoHarm #InformedConsent #NurembergCode #Bioethics #Ethics
