Known for his strong stance against Covid-19 mandates, James Onen aka Fatboy has once again maintained that mandatory vaccination is an infringement on human rights and the decision should lie with people.
He said this during The Fatboy Show while commenting on the amendment of the Public Health Act 2021, where the Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng noted that it was necessary to revise the law to include emerging diseases such as Covid-19 and Ebola among others.
The bill specifies that people who reject Covid-19 vaccination will be fined a sum of 4 million shillings or face a jail term of six months. It proposes that in an outbreak of an epidemic, people will be mandated to get vaccinated and re-vaccinated depending on the nature of the disease. Anyone who fails to comply will be subject to the punishments stipulated by the law.
Speaking on this Fatboy said, “For me, the issue becomes a matter of fundamental human rights, consent and bodily autonomy. An adult has every right to decide the kind of medical procedures they are subjected to. And if upon personal or medical investigation they don't feel it’s a procedure necessary for them, I don't think they should be compelled by force of law to undergo such a procedure.”
Furthermore, he stated that pharmaceutical industries have turned into profit making ventures where the vaccines being developed aside from proving to be unable to protect against infections are made to suit different variants to the extent that people require up to 4 or 5 booster shots.
“All I am saying is this leaves room for error, that if you mandate a medical procedure and then it turns out to be ineffective or have long-term side effects, that’s giving the government the power to mandate opens the door to abuse,” he added.
On the contrary, Olive Najjuma, his Co-host was of the opinion that some lethal diseases require vaccine mandates, arguing that mothers are mandated to have their children immunized against killer diseases from birth. She then asked Fatboy if the vaccines were given enough time in development to be mandated, such as the Ebola vaccines.
In response, Fatboy insisted that the Ebola vaccine could still turn out to be ineffective a few years after it’s administered to people. He maintained that the decision to vaccinate babies and children should be left to their parents or guardians to decide, and not the state to “force” the immunization on the caretakers.
He explained “I think this is where civil society organizations, parents groups and other stakeholders get involved and not just leave it to the legislators because later when it becomes unfair, people will have themselves to blame for not partaking in the discourse.”
“My bone of contention with mandatory vaccination is that it's through force. I think the Government through the Ministry should educate people. If they believe there’s a viable medical intervention policy that should be communicated, allow people to seek consultation and then let them decide for themselves.”
“Because if the end goal is to protect human life, if everyone is forced to wear a condom before having intercourse, it would reduce the rate of AIDS transmission but people would acknowledge that it's an infringement on their human rights. You should be the one to decide whether it's a risk you want to take or not. Because if all health risks are mandated vaccination, what kind of society would that be?” he questioned.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, Sarah and Lesham every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.