By Carolina Vásquez Araya on March 21, 2021
Photo: Duncan C
Deciding about one’s own health is an act of freedom and should be respected. The centers of political, economic, and media power are trying to convince us that the containment measures to stop the pandemic are the right ones. They give no reasons, but the public observes with justified mistrust how these strategies are applied in a random manner and often in contradiction with the most elementary common sense.
The same is true for the effectiveness of vaccines which, while still in the research process, are already in mass distribution.
When someone expresses doubts based on information disseminated by the media and social networks – sometimes from unreliable sources, but also from the qualified opinion of scientists renowned for their expertise – an adverse reaction immediately arises, labeling these reflections as “conspiracy theories” from those who do not accept as valid explanations about the safety of these immune resources. Throughout history, the effectiveness and contribution of vaccines has been undeniable, and they have undergone long and thorough research processes, the results of which have been an essential contribution to public health since their discovery. But during this pandemic, it is also a reality that the development process has been too short and still subject to trials. Hence the resistance of health workers, especially in first world countries, presumably well informed and experienced in their field, to accept the new vaccines and their mass inoculation.
The lives and health of the world’s population are at stake and, from their scant knowledge of the health issue, people observe how, despite the confinement measures that come and go without explicit reasons, cases are increasing and so are deaths. Governments, especially in our third world countries, have turned the issue of vaccines into a tool for political negotiation and privileges, leaving aside their enormous responsibility towards the population they are obliged to serve and respond to. Added to this is the lack of information campaigns to explain in a simple way the characteristics, risks and conditions of vaccines, with the aim of facilitating a conscious decision making on the part of citizens.
In this sense, large multinational pharmaceutical companies have an obligation to share reliable information – despite their dubious reputation as industrial giants with flexible ethics – and to refrain from engaging in corruption with some governments whose clear intentions are to turn vaccines into a thriving private business, condemning the poorest to an uncertain fate. If vaccination is the most reasonable response to consolidate herd immunity and stop this year-long health emergency, then it must be implemented under the banner of the right to health, enshrined in all constitutional texts, as well as responsible information on risks and benefits.
To impose this right without exceptions, the active participation of citizens’ organizations and the health sector will be necessary in order to avoid what is already being perpetrated, which is a grotesque manipulation of information, distribution and application of vaccines, transformed into instruments of proselytizing and discrimination. Opposing this is not a conspiracy, but an elementary exercise of citizenship.
Access to reliable information on health measures is a right.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano – English