Forced Vaccination Judged Unconstitutional in Colombia

The Constitutional Court in Colombia recently ruled that mandating the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is unconstitutional. However, the precedent-setting judicial decision went beyond HPV vaccine mandates and affirmed the ethical principle of informed consent to medical risk taking. According to the Court, which is the highest judicial body tasked with interpreting that country’s Constitution, the state cannot make decisions regarding the bodily integrity of its citizens because to do so would violate human dignity. The Court stressed that decisions involving medical procedures should ultimately be made by patients themselves, not the government. It cautioned Colombia’s Ministry of Health that it “must obtain the informed consent [of patients] prior to administering the vaccine” to them.

Class Action Lawsuit Against Gardasil Vaccine Filed in Colombia

The Reconstruando Esperanza Association, made up of victims of the Human Papillomavirus HPV vaccine, will sue the pharmaceutical multinational Merck Sharp & Dohme for "the damages caused to the life and health" of hundreds of women and girls. The class action lawsuit against the multinational Merck Sharp & Dohme, which produces the drug Gardasil, warns that the amount of damages caused is 490 billion pesos (approximately $30.5 million). Mónica León del Río, representative of the association, said that "the approximate group of victims of Gardasil that make up the demand is 700 girls, adolescents and Colombian women, affected by the recombinant quadrivalent vaccine against the Human Papilloma Virus, Types 6, 11, 16 and 18, Gardasil." The association is calling for compensation for the damage allegedly due to the vaccine, mainly symptoms that affect the immune and neurologic systems, and also is calling for a declaration that the vaccine is unsafe.

Colombian Constitutional Court Orders Official Investigation Into HPV Vaccine Injury Epidemic

Unlike the U.S. where victims of vaccine damage cannot sue the manufacturer of the vaccine, lawsuits against the HPV vaccine are mounting in many countries around the world. Colombian mainstream media has been reporting breaking news this week as the Colombian Constitutional Court has ordered health authorities to deliver “as soon as possible” thorough tests of the initial HPV vaccines given in 2013. The court order directs the District Department of Health Bogotá to conduct toxicology tests to determine whether the HPV vaccines contain heavy metals such as aluminum, lead, cadmium, silver and titanium. Following these studies, the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Colombian Association of Rheumatology and the National Cancer Institute are to deliver to the court any studies demonstrating the negative effects and contraindications of HPV vaccines. According to statements, the mission of the court is to establish whether health authorities violated the fundamental right to health of Colombian girls by not previously warning about the alleged negative effects of the vaccine. Said another way, the court wants to know why, like in every other country where the HPV vaccine is administered, informed consent was not given.

HPV Vaccine Injuries and Deaths Now Being Reported from Central and South America

On May 22, 2015 16-year old Karen Durán-Cantor of Colombia died after complications related to new onset autoimmune disorders believed to have been triggered by two injections of Gardasil, the human papillomavirus vaccine currently being given to school age girls throughout the country. Despite her personal pain, Karen produced a video to warn others about the possible consequences of using Gardasil shortly before her death.

Colombia: Indigenous Communities Protect their Food Security

by Juliana Rincón Parra
English Global Voices

Indigenous communities in Colombia are taking steps to protect their food security. Not only are they educating their communities to eat what they grow on their vegetable gardens instead of buying expensive food brought from outside but they are also protesting new laws and regulations limiting their access to […]