Vaccination requirements for police and paramedics in Queensland breached existing laws, according to the state’s high court. Among other things, the vaccination requirement violated the employees’ human rights.
In Australia, citizens were subjected to a form of medical apartheid when requirements to be vaccinated against covid were introduced in order to remain part of society. Vaccine passports were introduced and certain professionals, such as police officers and health care workers, were forced to take the vaccine in order to keep their jobs.
Now, a state court has ruled that it was illegal to require emergency services personnel in the state of Queensland to take the covid vaccine to avoid repercussions, The Guardian reports. In total, there are three lawsuits related to the vaccine requirement, with 86 people suing the state’s police and ambulance services over policies that took effect in 2021 and 2022.
The previous regulations required emergency services personnel to receive these injections and also so-called booster doses, otherwise they could be subject to disciplinary action, which in the worst case could mean termination of employment.
“Gross violation of human rights”
The court found that the commissioner of police, Katarina Carroll, failed to give due consideration to human rights in her decision to issue the vaccination order. It also found that the then director-general of health in Queensland, Dr. John Wakefield, did not have the authority to impose such requirements. The court therefore ruled that the vaccination requirement was unlawful and had no beneficial effect.
In addition, Queensland has human rights legislation that recognizes, among other things, a person’s right not to be subjected to medical treatment without full, free and informed consent. The court found that the vaccination requirement restricted this right in the sense that the consent was not “free”.
Similarly, in New Zealand, which along with Australia had some of the most stringent corona restrictions and vaccine requirements in the world, the supreme court found that the vaccine requirement was “a gross violation of human rights”.
