Widespread vaccinations started in the country on Monday, and Health Minister Recep Akdağ became the first government official to receive a swine flu shot on Tuesday. Akdağ said President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Erdoğan would also be vaccinated. However, Erdoğan denied this a few hours later.
Speaking at his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday, Erdoğan said people should make their own decision on whether to get the vaccine. He also warned people not to kiss while greeting each other and to wash their hands immediately after handshakes as measures to avoid swine flu.
Meanwhile, a similar refusal yesterday came from President Gül, who smiled and responded to a journalist inquiring whether he would be getting a shot, saying: “Why should I? Am I in the risk group?”
Erdoğan’s statement yesterday confused many who were already undecided. Eda Gürbüz, the mother of a 5-year-old child, is among those conflicted about the vaccine. Gürbüz said she had already been unsure and the statement has made it even more difficult to decide.
Gürbüz added that she had received a letter from the kindergarten seeking permission to vaccinate her child and expecting an answer within two days, but since she has doubts, she has asked for a week to decide. “One moment I think the government would not run the risk of making people face serious side effects, then the next I think about all these stories and rumors that the vaccination harms the nervous system. The prime minister’s statement confused me even more,” she added.
The Turkish Doctors Union (TTB) announced on Wednesday in a written statement that Prime Minister Erdoğan’s refusal to get vaccinated is an irrevocable mistake in the management of the pandemic, which so far has not been particularly good.
“The place of the Ministry of Health as the main authority in the national pandemic plan is not in dispute, but another undisputable fact is that the ministry is far from gaining the trust of the public,” the statement underlined.
The TTB claimed that Erdoğan’s statement cannot be considered only as an unfortunate event but is an indication that the government lacks the capacity for seriousness and consistent policies on the issue.
The same statement added that the benefits of the vaccination far outweigh any harmful side effects and that people continuing to get shots despite the prime minister’s statement is good for the health of society.
Dr. Metin Bakkalcı, secretary-general of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TİHV), underlined that the violation of the basic ethical rules of medicine and patients’ rights created a trauma in society and this trauma itself turned into a health problem. He said there were several important principles to be adhered to concerning patients’ rights. “First, to cause no harm, second, to be beneficial, third, to respect privacy and, of course, the consent of the patient, but none of these have been respected during the process,” Bakkalcı said.
He added that the world is not encountering a pandemic for first time and it will be not be last but managing it well depends on the people and the responsible persons.
“One of the main rights of the patient is access to information, and not only in Turkey but around the world in general, this was not ensured,” he told Today’s Zaman. He explained that the public had been given many misleading messages, for example, that all flu is swine flu. “There is major public misinformation, and in addition, all these discussions about the vaccination have made people feel helpless,” he said. Bakkalcı added that media publications contributed to the violation of patients’ rights and increased the trauma. “Since people are not seen as human beings but the subjects of the relentless market economy, their rights were violated during the management of the pandemic,” he said.
Meanwhile, Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputies Ali Rıza Öztürk and Mehmet Sevigen and independent deputy Ufuk Uras submitted questions to Parliament yesterday, demanding a response from Health Minister Akdağ. Öztürk’s motion inquired about the active agent in the disinfectants used on public transportation vehicles and in schools, while Sevigen’s questioned whether public should believe Akdağ’s approach to the vaccinations or that of the prime minister. Uras queried whether there had been any work on the part of the government to manufacture the vaccine in Turkey.
Also yesterday, Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay announced that he was not going to be vaccinated, criticizing Health Minister Akdağ for not paying enough attention to preventing panic among the public over swine flu.
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