Rights of Consumers are Protected: Why Do These Apply to General Services and Commodities, but not to Health Care, and Specifically Not to Covid-19 Related Commodities: Vaccines and Medications?

Gross violations on all aspects of consumer rights related to offer and delivery of Covid-19 vaccination become apparent. Involved agencies and parties should be held to account. Damages Redressed!

The rights of consumers in the Philippines are legally protected with respect to purchased products and services. Under Republic Act 7394, consumers are guaranteed 8 rights. One of these rights is the right to health care, under “Right to basic needs”. However, that health care right must also be subject to the conditions of the other 7 rights.

Every Filipino and resident in the Philippines has the right to safety. To avoid harm from hazardous goods and services. The Covid-19 Vaccines are identified to be hazardous! Yet the DOH keeps marking them as safe and effective. Pushing them even now! Ignoring reports of 2,801 deaths and more than 112,000 reports of adverse reactions and claiming no safety signals or concerns. This is despite 2 or more incidents of serious reaction or death being recognized as sufficient to trigger investigation and possibly to pause vaccination.

The actions of the DOH and government agencies are violating the Right to Information.

The right to choose or not to choose any product, and to be sure that the product is of good quality and delivering upon marketing promises.

The marketing promises were:-

1. The vaccines are safe, effective, and necessary!

2. The vaccines prevent transmission. Taking the vaccine is a community responsibility. Taking the vaccine will protect the elderly and children.

3. The vaccines will prevent serious illness, hospitalization and death.

None of these marketing promises have been delivered upon! Even worse, recipients face terrible health risks which are unfortunately now being realized with soaring heart attacks, strokes, sudden deaths, autoimmune conditions and cancers, neurological conditions, and dementias, infertility, pregnancy losses and birth defects, among others.

The vaccines are hazardous goods!

Filipinos were told to take whichever vaccine was available. They were told they must take these products to access goods, services, transport, work, education, travel. While not mandated by law, they were effectively mandated by policies put into place under the IATF. No jab no job. No jab no ride. No jab no collection of payment, etc.. Effectively there was no choice in the matter for many people.

In terms of medications for treatment of Covid-19, there was also no official choice. Early treatment was denied, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, high dose steroids, nutraceuticals (C, D, Zinc, melatonin) were all rejected: remdesivir was permitted, along with other high-cost pharmaceuticals as documented under the Philippines Covid-19 Living Recommendations (downloadable).

As far as quality; the Covid-19 vaccines were aggressively marketed as safe, effective, and necessary. Promoted to prevent infection and transmission. Promoted as preventative against serious cases resulting in hospitalization and death. Now it turns out they were unable to deliver on any of these promises. That they now even promote reinfection and general poor health.

Reinfections, regardless of vaccination status, confer worse health outcomes; reinfected people are twice as likely to die and three times as likely to be hospitalized with COVID than those infected only once. Considering that natural infection provides robust durable and lasting protection again reinfection and particularly serious illness, superior to that achievable by vaccination, it follows that vaccinated persons are now faring worse than unvaccinated persons. This information is still not being disclosed by health agencies to the public.

Various concerned citizens groups have been attempting to raise serious concerns with the government over these vaccines since early in implementation. Even to the extent of submitting cases for TRO on vaccine rollouts to the Supreme Court. All cases have been pending for many months (request for TRO since May 2022), none yet appear even close to being fully heard or reaching a verdict, even though they were plead as urgent when filed. They will only be heard when already too late to prevent most Filipinos from taking Covid-19 vaccines, to prevent children from being vaccinated.

Representation has been denied!

What of redress for injuries or deaths following vaccination? The DOH committed to assist persons who experience AEFI following vaccination.

Philhealth will give a maximum of PHP100,000 (approx. USD1,800) for injuries or a death, if it can be proven in a very complicated application system, that the adverse outcome was a direct result of vaccination. Hospital care, and even funeral and burial expenses in the Philippines easily cost far more than PHP100,000 for even a short-term simple illness. Let alone compensation for lost income, disability. How is this a fair redress? Fair compensation?

The right to proper informed consent with full knowledge of product characteristics: risks and benefit. DOH still advises that side effects are mostly mild and short-lived. Only anaphylaxis is presented as a possible serious side effect.

The environment that has been generated over the Covid-19 pandemic has been anything but healthy. Forced quarantines and stay at home orders. Restrictions to education, movement, access to services and health care. Forced medications. Forced impoverishment.

WHEN THE COVID PANDEMIC AND ALL MEASURES ENFORCED ARE ASSESSED FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LONG-ESTABLISHED CONSUMER RIGHTS, GROSS VIOLATIONS BECOME APPARENT ON ALL COUNTS!

THIS MUST NEVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN AGAIN!

ALL RESPONSIBLE MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT!