The moral necessity of informed consent for vaccines

The failure of Panhandle Health District board members to honestly address how patients are informed of the risks and benefits of vaccine products at the March 3 PHD meeting reveals a troubling cowardice and incompetence that continues to erode trust in the authority of their board.

Informed consent is a bedrock of ethical medicine — people deserve honest information to weigh potential risks against claimed benefits. CDC information on vaccines is little more than propaganda. Medical outlets that depend on dispensing vaccines often use that propaganda to spin the benefits and hide the risks, as if citizens are too fragile for truth.

Some may claim that prioritizing a supposed greater good over individual rights protects public health. But the assumption that people can’t handle nuance or make rational choices is an arrogant and false premise that clashes with needed respect for individual autonomy and responsible authority. When hidden risks eventually surface, as they did during the COVID-19 debacle, trust in health authorities inevitably craters. The industry-serving propaganda currently used to "inform," and the fear promotion used to coerce, has already damaged public trust, and over time can only hasten the demise of responsible public health governance.

Dr. Thomas Fletcher, our PHD chair, sought to do right by us, but a weak board made excuses instead. Their failure to truly champion transparency around risks v. benefits reflects a disrespect for our citizens, and undermines what remains of their credibility. True informed consent shouldn’t be optional — it’s a moral necessity.

DR. RICK KIRSCHNER

Sagle