Why Is Informed Consent to Vaccination A Human Right?

Civil liberties include the legal right to exercise freedom of thought, speech, conscience and religious belief. Protection of autonomy and bodily integrity includes the human right to exercise informed consent to medical risk taking, which has been defined as a human right internationally since 1947. Vaccines carry a risk of injury or death, which can be greater for some people than others, and often doctors cannot predict who will be harmed. One-size-fits-all vaccine policies and laws, which force you to risk your health or your child’s health without your voluntary, informed consent and with the threat of punishment for declining a vaccine, violate human rights.