Signing vaccination refusal declaration forms ‘unfeasible:’ lawyer

With many unwilling to take booster shots, the General Department of Preventive Medicine said such people should sign forms to “underline their responsibility” in the Covid fight.

Some localities are already getting people to sign the forms.

Phan Trong Lan, head of the department, told correspondents Monday: “Covid-19 vaccination is a requirement in the pandemic fight. As such, people need to get vaccinated as per existing regulations and in the right doses.

“The fact that localities are requesting people to sign forms to ‘take responsibility’ is to show their responsibility to the public.”

However, this has caused some confusion.

Hai Anh, 32, of Hanoi, asked, for instance: “Why did we not have to sign anything when getting the first and second doses?

“Is it possible to make everyone sign … whenever there is an epidemic?”

A VnExpress reader with the handlephuongthuy1973 account said in a comment: “Is getting Covid-19 vaccines a right or a duty? If it is a right then people can choose and if it is a duty then everyone must do it, and there is no need for such confirmation.”

Vu Tien Vinh of Bao An law firm in Hanoi, said it is “unfeasible, unnecessary and a waste of public funds” to demand such a confirmation.

He said the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases issued in 2007 does not have any provisions requiring the public to sign confirmation forms when there is an epidemic or take responsibility for refusing vaccines.

With a population of almost 100 million, it is “impractical, wasteful and troublesome” to request all to sign such a form.

“Authorities have already gotten people to sign other pledges such as those related to sidewalk encroachment, but they are not efficacious.”

The pledge is simply an agreement between the public and authorities, and if anyone violates rules, authorities have to handle it based on the law instead of such a pledge, he said.

According to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, almost 230 million Covid vaccines had been administered by Jun. 25, including a third shot for 44 million people and fourth for three million.