Worst medical mainstream proposal ever — compulsory participation in vaccine trials!

Guinea pig nation

Here’s a recent headline that literally gave me a chill…

“Should Participation in Vaccine Clinical Trials be Mandated?”

Seriously. They’re talking about MANDATORY participation in pre-approval trials for vaccines.

And what makes this doubly chilling is the source. It might not be so bad if it came from some anonymous blogger in the Internet wilderness. But this piece was published in Virtual Mentor — the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics.

Ethics? More like the AMA Journal of the Ethically Challenged.

Risk benefit ratio

Apparently there’s a current recruitment shortage for vaccine trials. So according to the Virtual Mentor article, “Compulsory involvement in vaccine studies is one alternative solution that is not as outlandish as it might seem on first consideration.”

No, I would say it’s exactly as outlandish as it seems on first, second, and ANY number of considerations.

Here’s how the argument goes: Vaccines benefit society as a whole. And since many of us are willing to benefit society by donating our organs after death, serving on juries, and serving in the armed forces, then we ought to be ready to answer the call to roll up our sleeves and have Magic Vaccine Potion #9 pumped into our bodies.

Oh. Well since they put it that way I would have to say…”NO! It’s still completely outlandish!”

You don’t risk your health by checking the organ donation box on your drivers license application.

You don’t risk your health by serving on a jury.

And although it’s obvious you may risk your health and give your life by serving in the military, it’s not a compulsory service.

The argument goes on: “A key consideration is the risk benefit ratio — risk to the individual volunteer balanced against the benefit to society.”

Yes, and let’s not forget the substantial monetary benefits of drug companies that would eventually reap huge rewards while the rest of us put our bodies on the line at unknown risk to our health.

Which gives me an idea for a counter proposal.

If this insane plan should go forward, here’s what we’ll tell them when they come for you and me and our families…

We’ll consider going along with mandatory vaccine trial participation, but only under the condition that the first people called will all come from these groups:

* Drug company executives, employees, and their families
* FDA officials, employees, and their families
* U.S. Congressional Representatives, Senators, and their families
* Every Big Pharma lobbyist and their families
* CDC officials and their families
* American Medical Association officials and their families
* And of course…the editors of Virtual Mentor and their families

Get all of those groups to agree — in total — to be first line of mandatory guinea pigs, and then we can talk about including the rest of us.

I think that nonnegotiable condition would slam the door on any further talk of enforced drug experiments.

Sources: 
“Should Participation in Vaccine Clinical Trials be Mandated?” Virtual Mentor — the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Vol. 14, No. 1, January 2012, virtualmentor.ama-assn.org