ABSyM challenges vaccination by pharmacists before the Constitutional Court
“The ABSyM board of directors has decided to take legal action against Minister Vandenbroucke’s law allowing pharmacists to vaccinate against Covid-19 in their pharmacies, because this law violates a number of constitutional rights.”
“The Law of 28 February 2022[1] authorising pharmacists to prescribe and administer the corona vaccine violates, among other things, Article 23 of the Constitution, which guarantees everyone the right to health protection. This right may be compromised if vaccination is carried out by a healthcare provider, in this case the pharmacist, who is not qualified to detect medical problems following vaccination because he has not received the required training.”
“Only a doctor is authorised to ensure continuity of care during vaccination. Vaccination can cause anaphylactic shock. There is also a risk of neurological and immune complications, fever and asthenia. Vaccination is a medical act for which only doctors and nurses are sufficiently trained.”
“The fundamental right to health protection is also compromised if vaccination is carried out by a healthcare provider who does not have the infrastructure needed to deal with side effects or complications immediately after vaccination. It is also possible that Article 22 of the Constitution – the right to privacy – may be jeopardised if the pharmacist, because other customers are present, cannot guarantee medical confidentiality.”
“Next, ABSyM is challenging Minister Vandenbroucke’s law because the pharmacist can not only prescribe the vaccine but also administer it. The pharmacist becomes a ‘self-prescriber’ with a financial interest in prescribing a product. The potential conflict of interest this creates is hard to reconcile with Article 23 of the Constitution.”
“Finally, ABSyM is also examining whether Minister Vandenbroucke’s law violates Article 10 of the Constitution, which states that all Belgians are equal before the law. Unlike pharmacists, doctors must order vaccines from a pharmacy or a vaccination centre, which implies discrimination between the professional categories of pharmacists and doctors, to the detriment of the latter, in the preparatory stages of vaccination.”
“Dr. Luc Herry
President of ABSyM”
Read the full article here:
https://www.absym-bvas.be
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Original image by mohamed hassan on pxhere, CC 0
