Court Ruling Lays the Ground for Mandatory Coronavirus Vaccination

Court Ruling Lays the Ground for Mandatory Coronavirus Vaccination.

In what will prove to be highly contentious issue a court ruling lays the groundwork for the possibility of mandatory coronavirus vaccinations. Throughout Spain many British expats and Spaniards alike are eagerly awaiting their turn to be vaccinated against the potentially deadly coronavirus, but many others want to avoid the vaccination at all costs.

During the initial months of the Coronavirus vaccination campaign many countries have seen delivery being delayed, people being hesitant over whether to be vaccinated or not and production bottlenecks throttling the supply. Issues relating blood clots to certain vaccinations has not helped the vaccination campaigns either.

It is now believed that a landmark ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) could pave the way to mandatory Coronavirus vaccinations. Last week the ECHR ruled that compulsory vaccination could be considered “necessary in a democratic society” as reported Euronews.

The Strasbourg-based court has the final interpretation on the European Convention on Human Rights.

The ruling was made over a case which started before the Coronavirus pandemic but nevertheless could affect the nature of vaccination programs in the future. The case involved multiple Czech Republic families where children had been refused entry into school as the children had not been vaccinated against various diseases which included poliomyelitis, hepatitis B and tetanus.

The court highlighted the fact that where, “a policy of voluntary vaccination was not sufficient to achieve and maintain herd immunity, the national authorities could reasonably introduce a compulsory vaccination policy in order to achieve an appropriate level of protection against serious diseases.”

It is now believed that this ruling could pave the way for mandatory coronavirus vaccinations in the “interest of public safety” and the “the protection of health or morals.”

The thought of mandatory coronavirus vaccinations has caused much controversy among British expats. One concerned expat told EWN that, “While I agree that as many people as possible need to have the vaccine, the idea of forcing people to take the jab goes against our human rights and could create even more of a sense of distrust around authority and medicine.”

Another concerned expat said, “Whilst I am in favour of having the vaccination, I feel that to be made to take it is an abuse of basic human rights and a most certainly in breach of European law.”

Another EWN reader explained that, “Don’t like the idea of forced vaccination as a rule but I’ve little sympathy with anyone who would allow their personal misgivings to override common good in a crisis that has killed 1 million.”

Antoine Buyse, professor of human rights at the University of Utrecht and Director of the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), explained to Euronews that, “The outcome of this case is important for all European countries,

“Any future similar cases would be decided in the same way.

“The implications for the case are basically that when states operate vaccination programmes, they have to weigh the different interests: not just the interests of the individual who maybe doesn’t want to be vaccinated, but also the wider interests of other people who might become protected by a high vaccination rate.”

It is still mandatory to wear masks during the pandemic under certain conditions, Amazon has a great range in stock, click on the link to see what they have on offer.