In 2017 "Right to Try" was required to give patients with life-threatening conditions access to certain treatments that have not yet been adequately tested and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), provided they are otherwise unable to participate in a clinical trial. As per Christina Sandefur, vice president of the Goldwater Institute, Right to Try, "Dying patients shouldn't have to fight the federal government" for permission to save their own lives.
Today, it is widely expected that patients who are not sick consider Covid-19 vaccines that are not FDA approved or licensed but rather were authorized under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Symptomless citizens are looking to governments to reserve their right to refuse treatment in the form of an emergency use vaccine.
Originally introduced by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and signed by President Trump on May 30, 2018, Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana joined a slew of Republicans and Independent Angus King of Maine as original co-sponsors of the Right to Try bill, which passed 250-169. 228 of the ayes were Republican, with no Republican votes against.
With Trump's vocal support came criticisms from Democrats and the establishment:
"The legislation... could expose critically ill patients to greater harm," worried Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone.
Democratic Rep. Gene Green said the "legitimate frustrations with the current system... are not a good reason to remove the FDA from the process."
FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb stated, "...Difficult decisions about individual treatment are best made by patients with the support and guidance of their treating physicians."
Holly Fernandez Lynch, JD, MBE commented, “They could take a medication that could make them die faster or in a worse way... they might be losing valuable time with their families, or they might be missing out on palliative options.”
Peter Temin, Gray Professor Emeritus of Economics, MIT, wrote, "there is always a chance that any given drug will fail to cure a condition or will induce an adverse reaction... drugs that are not fully studied may lead to more adverse reactions."
Years later, support for individual liberty and doctor/patient choice regarding the Covid vaccine and alternate therapeutic treatments are coming largely from the Right. They are pointing out that some of the same voices against the "Right to Try" are now in favor of making undertested vaccines mandatory and alternative treatments prohibited. They decry the hypocrisy that is consistent only in a principle that it's the government's body and the government's choice.
About the vaccine, Marjorie Taylor Greene drew fire for saying, "The government has no right to tell me or anyone else that I'm required to have a vaccine to fly on an airplane, to go in restaurants, to buy and sell in the marketplace, for my children to attend school or any other freedom and right that I have. The government needs to get out of our business and allow us to be completely open and make decisions for ourselves with our health." Greene also drafted the We Will Not Comply Act, which would allow individuals to sue for discrimination based on Covid-19 vaccine status.
Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) took to Twitter last year against the vaccine, face masks, and tracking apps by stating, "There is no authority in the Constitution that authorizes the government to stick a needle in you against your will, force you to wear a face mask, or track your daily movements. Can you imagine the signers of the Declaration of Independence submitting to any of these things?!" A chorus on the left chimed in the comments section proclaiming that George Washington is said to have vaccinated the entire Continental Army against smallpox.
The consistent principle in health freedom that any mandates regarding the Covid vaccine are at least as toothless as the Right To Try legislation. Under Right to Try, patients have no reasonable expectation or legal right to force their doctors to even request any treatment they don't already want to prescribe and may not lawfully choose an experimental treatment until they have "exhausted approved treatment options" as determined by the government.
UncoverDC has reported previously about the history of vaccines for coronaviruses and the companies producing vaccines for Covid-19. We've also seen Ron DeSantis ban vaccine passports in Florida, same with Andy Biggs in Arizona.