Top court: vaccine mandate for healthcare workers legal
The government mandate requiring health-care workers to get vaccinated against Covid is not unconstitutional, as it serves the smooth functioning of the health-care system, the Constitutional Court ruled on Friday.
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Under the government decree making Covid vaccination mandatory for health-care workers, those refusing to get the jab are to be fired and are not entitled to severance pay.
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Health-care employees lodged hundreds of appeals
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with the Constitutional Court challenging the constitutionality of the mandate.
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In its Friday resolution, the court rejected the complaints, saying that the vaccine mandate served to guarantee the smooth functioning of the health-care system, patient safety and the enforcement of patients’ right to life and health.
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The vaccine mandate for health-care workers is constitutional and a “proportionate restriction”,
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the court ruled.
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The Constitutional Court also cited the World Health Organization’s (WHO) position that public health goals such as the containment of a pandemic warrant the use of legal coercion as a last resort.
Source: MTI