Adult vaccine mandates, particularly within the workplace, threaten the very principles of freedom, informed consent, and the right to bodily autonomy. Many employees, particularly within the healthcare sector and even those that have no patient contact, are forced to either receive a vaccine, or lose their job - often positions they have been in for decades. These employees either subject themselves to a medical intervention they don't want, or attempt to obtain a vaccine exemption which is often denied. In the small chance they obtain an exemption, they are often required to wear a mask the entire flu season, which does little to prevent the spread of the flu (especially when vaccinated coworkers are often not immune due to the low efficacy of the flu shot) - vaccinate or mask policies violate medical privacy and serve to shame employees.
Sign the petition to make your voice heard! Together, we need to protect the right to informed medical consent within the workplace - this is a basic human right.
Feel free to download a printable PDF petition to circulate amongst your community or workplace. You can mail it back to MVC at the address at the bottom.
PRINT HERE: https://static.wixstatic.com/ugd/36330e_d693ff9d67f24616912cd8b7255420cd.pdf
I, a concerned citizen and taxpayer, petition the members of the Michigan State Legislature and Governor Whitmer, to protect my right to informed medical consent in the workplace. Although businesses and employers may encourage their employees to receive a vaccine, they do not have the authority to force an employee to receive a vaccine against their will, conscience, deeply held religious and/or cultural beliefs, medical history, or experience with past reactions to the shot. I oppose employer mandates for vaccines and support a worker’s right to freely decline a vaccine.
- No person should be forced to receive a medical treatment that goes against their moral, religious, ethical or philosophical beliefs: Informed consent gives an individual the right to analyze the risks and benefits of a proposed medical intervention and refuse it, if in their assessment, the risks outweigh the benefits. Both options must be equally accessible. The Nuremberg Code states “... the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, over-reaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion.”
- All medical interventions carry risks: For example, flu shots contain mercury, polysorbate 80, squalene, dog and insect cells and DNA, blood products, antibiotics and other questionable allergens and ingredients. The flu shot can cause permanent paralysis and death and vaccine injuries due to the flu shot account for the majority of monetary claims paid out by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program– a program run by the federal government as vaccine makers do not have liability for the safety of their products.
- My employment and livelihood should not depend on whether I take a vaccine: For example, the flu shot’s ability to prevent the flu is marginal at best, with efficacy as low as 10% in certain years. Data evaluated by one of the most prestigious scientific groups, Cochrane, demonstrated healthcare worker flu vaccination may have little to no effect on lab-proven influenza. Many states allow for workplace vaccine exemptions including California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas and Utah.
- All Michiganders have the right to be safe in their workplace: There is no data to show mandating vaccines for employees makes the work environment ‘safer’, however, there is data to show that vaccines, such as the flu shot, can cause serious injuries such as paralysis, convulsions, brain swelling and death. It is not known who will react negatively to a vaccine, one’s risk could range from zero to 100%. No employee should be forced to take that risk to remain employed. Discrimination and retaliation by employers against employees who wish to decline vaccines is unacceptable. Workplace practices like distinguishing marks and forced masks are discriminatory, do not prevent the spread of flu illness in healthcare workers nor improve workplace ‘safety’, and are akin to public shaming.
- Prominent National and State organizations support an employee’s right to decline the flu shot: Many prominent professional organizations and labor unions support a worker’s right to decline the flu shot. This includes the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Michigan Nurses Association, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers.
I hereby petition the Michigan legislature and Governor Whitmer to protect my right to informed consent in the workplace.
