KAMPALA – Experts have said that there is a very big gap that has been created by the withdrawal of the vaccination consent forms from the public in the vaccination exercise. This was revealed during a virtual town hall meeting on November 16 under a theme dubbed ‘Ending Lockdown Tyranny: Lessons, reflections and choices beyond the COVID-19 mandates.
Dr. Eve Mugisa, a pharmacist said the lack of information that is necessary from the onset of vaccination is something that is not ethical and she called for the reversal of the decision. According to Dr. Mugisa, people need to be given detailed information to know what they are getting so that they can make informed decisions.
“There is a very big gap in regard to correct informed consent that has been created by the withdrawal of the consent forms, which is a tenet of bio-medical ethics. We realized that there was something that wasn’t clear about the education process concerning the vaccine. We wonder why the informed consent forms were completly withdrawn,” she says.
The pharmacist urges that it is not ethical to withdraw information that is pertinent for the recipient to decide on whether to receive or not a particular therapy or procedure. She says in absence of a consent form, there is room for so much ignorance and misinformation a major challenge for her as a medical person who works with out-patients in community pharmacies.
“If somebody approaches me and asks to know about the benefits of the vaccine, I will have to tell them the benefits and otherwise of the vaccine before I take them to the CDC website to get detailed information about the vaccine. People are then left to decide whether to consent to the vaccination or not,” she says.
Megan Mansell, a former district education director in Florida, US shared that this is a good time to see what we can do differently with the school systems and address the issues why they (schools) were closed instead of sending children back to schools with the blanket false measures like masks that do not remedy the issue.
The government can actually overcome a year of learning but the psychological and developmental detriment can be lasting.
“You are practically teaching children to fear touching, proximity and see others as threats. I see this as a real issue. I don’t think schools should remain closed but I think we should ask the teachers and students and their families if they feel the need of additional help because I think most people need to go back to normal,” she said.
Mansell believes mask mandates change people’s behaviours and how much caution people are taking.
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