Letter to BC Ombudsman – June 2 (PDF Printable)
June 2, 2021
Jay Chalke, BC Ombudsperson
PO Box 9039,
Stn Prov Gov’t.
Victoria, BC V8W 9A5
info@bcombudsperson.ca
Dear Mr. Chalke
I’m writing in response to the CBC News article – B.C. Ombudsperson Urges Caution if Governments Adopt COVID-19 Vaccine Passports (May 26, 2021).[1]
Thank you for being proactive in issuing a statement of caution about the potential adoption of a COVID-19 vaccine passport which could, and likely would, limit access to provincial and local public services based on vaccination status. There are many valid reasons to be concerned with the efforts by governments and industry to impose a system of discrimination based on medical choice.
What most Canadians, including many health professionals and politicians fail to understand is that vaccination does not equal immunization. Declaring one’s ‘vaccination status’ does not mean that one is immune to infection or transmission.
Many of the vaccines in use today, including all of the COVID-19 vaccines, do not prevent infection or transmission. Their intended purpose is solely to reduce the severity of symptoms should infection occur. This is true for the polio, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza and diphtheria vaccines. These products are ‘treatments’ rather than ‘vaccines’ as we commonly understand the use of the word. The purported benefit of the treatment is only to the person receiving the injection. To date, there is no scientific or medical evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine products function as a vaccine and confer either immunity from infection or prevent transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.[2]
Of greater concern is the issue of safety. The COVID-19 ‘vaccine’ products currently available under ‘emergency use authorization’ have not received formal approval denoting safety and efficacy from either the FDA or Health Canada. These products are still in Phase III clinical trials, meaning these products are considered ‘experimental’. The results of the clinical trials will not be reported until 2022 – 2024 depending upon the manufacturer. To coerce the public to accept an experimental treatment when its safety profile is unknown is unethical and possibly even criminal.
In Canada, bodily sovereignty and security of the person are constitutionally protected rights. Canada is a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights. Article 6 – Consent 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 consent should, where appropriate, be expressed and may be withdrawn by the person concerned at any time and for any reason without disadvantage or prejudice.”
To implement a vaccine passport system is a clear and egregious violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights. A vaccine passport system, by design, will cause disadvantage or prejudice. What is being proposed is effectively a medical apartheid.
The World Health Organization, in an updated statement on April 19, 2021, recognizes the negative impact of a vaccine passport system. They state: “States Parties are strongly encouraged to acknowledge the potential for requirements of proof of vaccination to deepen inequities and promote differential freedom of movement.” [3]
Authoritarian governmental reactions and the setting of dangerous precedents – actions that may be more damaging than COVID-19, have no place in Canadian society. When rights and freedoms are exchanged for perceived safety, they are rarely given back to the fullest extent of what existed prior. The introduction of a vaccine passport system would establish a pernicious precedent for any future pathogenic challenge.
Jonathan Kimmelman, director of McGill University’s biomedical ethics unit warns: “Outbreaks and national emergencies often create pressure to suspend rights, standards and/or normal rules of ethical conduct. Often our decision to do so seems unwise in retrospect.” [4]
Benjamin Rush MD, Signatory to The US Declaration of Independence stated: “Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship.” I think Rush would agree that we are essentially there.
We support you in your efforts to challenge the overreach of governments and the systemic violation of our most fundamental rights and freedoms.
Sincerely,
Ted Kuntz, President
Vaccine Choice Canada
cc.
Ombudsman of Alberta
info@ombudsman.ab.ca
Ombudsman of Saskatchewan
ombreg@ombudsman.sk.ca
ombsktn@ombudsman.sk.ca
Ombudsman of Manitoba
ombudsman@ombudsman.mb.ca
Ombudsman of Ontario
info@ombudsman.on.ca
Ombudsman of Quebec
informations@justice.gouv.qc.ca
Ombudsman of Newfoundland
citrep@gov.nl.ca
Ombudsman of New Brunswick
ombud@gnb.ca
Ombudsman of Nova Scotia
Ombudsman@novascotia.ca
Ombudsman of Yukon
info@yukonombudsman.ca
Ombudsman of Northwest Territories
info@nwtombud.ca
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ombudsperson-urges-caution-vaccine-passports-1.6041299
[2] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanmic/article/PIIS2666-5247(21)00069-0/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR1E_jPxuQqOw8rfX9z821UBSAj6Y7nzyLJK2a0UZrLiKDJrM7Vb9NOOhTs
[3] https://www.who.int/news/item/19-04-2021-statement-on-the-seventh-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic
[4] https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/11/researchers-rush-to-start-moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-trial-without-usual-animal-testing/