Have you been vaccinated?

Asking others if they have been vaccinated is rude and none of anybody’s business. Nevertheless, here is what to say if someone asks you:

The question usually arises among friends, family members, work colleagues, or neighbors, excluding the obvious vulgar responses such questions merit, so we want to find a polite and intelligent way to handle this intrusive and personal question.

Knowing that our private medical information is only a matter between yourself and your doctor, and none of anybody’s business, we should simply respond that this is private medical information and only a matter between yourself and your doctor. Period.

If the question instead is “why are you not vaccinated?”, then we can begin to lean on the legal basis and the rights you have to decline medical treatments.

You simply have the right to decline any medical treatment without having the justify your decision and you should avoid getting into a discussion about the specific reasons why you have chosen not to vaccinate.

Suffice to say, you have made that decision and kindly ask that it be respected.

An array of international human rights conventions enshrine the rights of the individual to life, liberty, and bodily integrity, and give the individual voluntary consent rights with regards to medical treatments.

The formulation of the Nuremberg Code gave individuals the right to give voluntary consent to medical treatments.

The UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, Article 6.1 states: Any preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic medical intervention is only to be carried out with the prior, free, and informed consent of the person concerned, based on adequate information.

The UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. In particular, no one shall be subjected without his free consent to medical or scientific experimentation.

Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine (Oviedo, 4.IV.1997), Article 5: An intervention in the health field may only be carried out after the person concerned has given free and informed consent to it.

The World Medical Association (WMA) International Code of Medical Ethics states: "A physician shall: respect a competent patient’s right to accept or refuse treatment."

The Medical Protection Society, says this on consent: "Respect for patients’ autonomy is expressed in consent law; to impose care or treatment on people without respecting their wishes and right to self-determination is not only unethical but illegal."

You, therefore, have the right to bodily integrity & to give voluntary consent to medical treatments. It is a fundamental human right to decide what happens to our bodies & legally NO one can force you to be vaccinated! No one has the ‘right’ to demand that others are vaccinated.

Oh, and medical privacy laws too!

Your private medical info staying private might be a bigger deal than first assumed. History tells us that those considered a “public health risk”, or today the unvaccinated could be targeted by malign regimes. The privacy of your medical records really is for YOUR SAFETY.