FALSE: DO NOT SHARE
Claim:
UK patients can be forced to take a COVID-19 vaccine against their will.
Answer:
False, there is no vaccine and mandatory vaccination is prohibited in the UK.
FURTHER INFORMATION
A video on YouTube shows a man talking about British law and the right to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine. He supposedly reads an article from the British Journal of Medical Practitioners on whether the right to consent is absolute, and claims that recent legal changes allow patients to receive against their will COVID-19 vaccination.
This is false. Firstly, as we have previously written, there is no current vaccine for COVID-19. The World Health Organization (WHO) clearly states that “there are no medicines that have been shown to prevent or cure the disease.”
Secondly, according to the NHS, “a person must give permission before they receive any type of medical treatment, test or examination”. According to barrister Louise Hooper, a specialist asylum, human rights and immigration lawyer at Garden Court Chambers, recent legislative changes have not changed this principle: “The Act [Coronavirus Act 2020] makes explicitly clear that the power to make such regulations does not include mandatory treatment or vaccination”. Furthermore, when asked about the possibility of making vaccination compulsory for children if and when a vaccine is found, UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I think that the extent of the public’s reaction to following the lockdown shows that we will be able to achieve very high levels of vaccination without taking that step”.
We have written before about the fears over vaccinations and forced vaccinations. Vaccines, like any medicine, can have side effects but according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention these are usually mild and temporary. All vaccines go through rigorous safety testing and trials before they are put to public use.
SOURCES
NHS: Do I have the right to refuse treatment?
WHO: Q&A on coronaviruses (COVID-19)
Louise Hooper in Garden Court Chambers: Coronavirus Act 2020: Does it permit mandatory vaccinations?
Origins of Claim
FULL TEXT OF CLAIM
“Today we are going to talk about our rights when it comes to having a mandatory vaccine. UK Covid laws were changed before all this kicked off, and one of the words that was used was mandatory vaccinations, so I wanted to have a look into seeing what that meant. Mandatory usually means an order of some kind of order… so I went and found a British Journal of Medical Practitioners article, and it says ‘The right to consent: Is it absolute?’ It has a legal framework and it reads, ‘A medical intervention without valid informed consent is a criminal offence. A physician can be charged with battery. Examples of such situations include: treatment against the patients will; different treatment than the one consented for; and treatment deliberately after consenting with wrong information.’ …
That’s how it was before Covid-19 happened. Then it talks about protecting the public from infectious diseases, which Covid-19 is one. ‘In order to protect the public from contagious infectious diseases, the Public Health Control of Diseases Act 1984 regulats diseases and mandatory treatment of conditions, such as tuberculosis. The individual’s right to consent is severely restricted in two areas. Firstly, information about the patient’s diagnosis needs to be given to the relevant authorities, that’s confidentiality’ … Secondly, patients suffering from communicable diseases can be forced to take their medication by supervised administration or involuntary inpatient treatment.”
