In the state of Maine, health care workers are reportedly being coerced into accepting the COVID-19 vaccine by making them opt-out rather than opting-in.
I've confirmed that the opt-out form exists. It can be downloaded as a Word document from the state government's website here.
Here is the text of the "Declination of COVID-19 Vaccine" form (with my bold emphasis):
Maine CDC, Maine EMS, and the MDPB recommend that I receive the COVID-19 vaccination to protect myself, my patients/clients, my colleagues, and others in my community.
I acknowledge that I am aware of the following facts (please read and initial next to each statement):·COVID-19 is a serious respiratory disease. As of December 16, 2020, over 300,000 people have died in the U.S. and there have been over 16 million people with confirmed cases of COVID-19.
·COVID-19 vaccination is recommended for me and all other public safety professionals to protect our colleagues and the communities that we serve from COVID-19, its complications, and death.
·If I contract COVID-19, I may remain infectious for 10 days or more. During this time, I shed the virus and can transmit COVID-19 to my family, colleagues, and the people we serve.
·If I become infected with COVID-19, even if my symptoms are mild or non-existent, I can spread COVID-19 to others. Symptoms that are mild or non-existent in me may cause serious illness and death in others.
·I understand that it is impossible to get COVID-19 from the COVID-19 vaccine.
·I understand that this vaccine has undergone rigorous trials and testing processes that met all the U.S. FDA requirements for issuance of an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
·I understand that receiving this vaccine will be essential to establishing herd immunity and eventually moving back to normal processes.
·I understand that mRNA vaccines do not alter, change, or even interact with my DNA.
·The consequences of my refusal to be vaccinated could have life-threatening consequences for my health and the health of everyone with whom I have contact, including my coworkers, my family, and members of the communities I serve.
·I understand that I’m being offered the COVID-19 vaccine and I’m electing to not get vaccinated. I understand that I can change my mind at any time and receive the COVID-19 vaccination.
I have read and fully understand the information on this declination form:
Would you sign that form if you were a health care worker no wishing to be vaccinated?
They are essentially saying: if you choose not to get the vaccine and you end up getting infected and any of your patients in turn are found to have been infected, the state of Maine is going to hold you legally responsible for reckless endangerment.
That is not informed consent. This is the opposite of informed consent. It is misinformation and coercion.
What should be happening is that health care workers should be allowed to opt-in rather than being forced to opt-out by signing a form essentially saying, "Yes, I'm a totally irresponsible person and understand that by acting irresponsibly, I could be found guilty of reckless endangerment or at least ruin my career."
I would suggest that the consent form should look something like this:
I acknowledge that I am aware of the following facts:
·I understand that these are experimental vaccines that remain unapproved by the FDA and that Phase 3 clinical trials are ongoing.
·I understand that these vaccine use a new technology that is not used in any licensed vaccine, by which mRNA is injected into the body and causes your own cells to become factories of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in order to stimulate the production of antibodies against that antigen.
·I understand that scientists say that since the mRNA doesn't enter the cell's nucleus, "the chance of its integration into human DNA is believed to be low", and I understand that prevailing opinion among the scientific community has often been proven wrong throughout recent history.
·I understand that antibodies are neither always sufficient nor even necessary for immunity. Immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is still not well understood, but it has been shown that infection confers lasting cell-mediated immunity regardless of waning antibodies, and it is anticipated based on data from SARS patients that immune memory will persist for many years. This has not been demonstrated for the vaccines, and the duration of vaccine-conferred immunity is unknown.
·I understand that vaccine-conferred immunity differs from infection-conferred immunity and is typically not as robust or long-lasting. The COVID-19 vaccines do not stimulate the full array of immune responses owing to the absence of other antigenic components of the whole virus, and we can therefore anticipate that immunity conferred by infection is superior.
·I understand that inferiority of vaccine-conferred immunity would mean that there is an important opportunity cost of vaccination such that mass vaccination could end up prolonging rather than helping to end the pandemic.
·I understand that the primary clinical endpoint measured in the trials is any symptoms of COVID-19 plus a positive PCR test and that we do not have data from the trials showing that the vaccines significantly reduce the risk of severe disease, hospitalization, or death.
·I understand that we have no data from the trials showing that the vaccines are effective for reducing transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and therefore that if I accept the vaccine I may not be contributing to the development of herd immunity as I would if I were to acquire natural immunity.
·I understand that if I am vaccinated, I might still become infected with SARS-CoV-2 and transmit it on to my family, colleagues, and people we serve.
·I understand that vaccination may make symptoms mild or nonexistent in me, but that if I spread the virus, it might still cause serious illness and death in others.
·I understand that serious debilitating adverse events among trial subjects have been reported but were assumed by the manufacturers and regulators not to be causally related to the vaccine, and I understand that the trials are underpowered to determine whether there is a statistically significant association between vaccination and rare adverse events.
·I understand that efforts to develop a vaccine for SARS were hampered by the phenomenon of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE), by which vaccination resulted in lab animals developing even more severe disease, and that the risk of ADE with the COVID-19 vaccines cannot be ruled out on the basis of the available trial data or postmarketing surveillance.
·I understand that SARS-CoV-2 is constantly mutating as it passages through the human population, resulting in unique variants that may escape vaccine-conferred immunity easier than naturally acquired immunity.
·I understand that even if there is no evidence of the vaccines causing ADE now, it is possible that this phenomenon might occur in the future due to the evolution of escape variants and that once my immune system is primed by vaccination as opposed to infection with the wild virus, there is no way to turn it back and retrain it to respond more appropriately to the virus in the event of future exposure.
·I understand that mass vaccination may put evolutionary pressure on the virus resulting in escape variants that could potentially be even more virulent than currently circulating strains.
·I understand that vaccines can have unforeseen non-specific effects such as detrimentally affecting the immune system in such a way as to increase the risk of of other diseases.
·I understand that harms from vaccines are not limited to acute adverse events occurring a few days, weeks, or even months after vaccination and that symptoms of vaccine injury, such as autoimmune disease, may take years to manifest.
·I understand that there is a total absence of data comparing long-term health-outcomes, including mortality, between individuals who received the vaccines and individuals who received a saline placebo.
·I understand that if I receive the vaccine and suffer a serious injury or death, neither I nor my family will be able to sue the manufacturer for damages owing to the legal immunity they have been granted by the federal government.
That's a start, at least, of what informed consent would look like if it were happening.
But, alas, informed consent is nowhere to be seen...
- Jeremy R. Hammond, Independent Journalist
