Court rules not to pause obligatory Covid jabs for French firefighters
672 firefighters had applied to the European Court of Human Rights, invoking their 鈥榬ight to life鈥� and 鈥榬espect for private and family life鈥�
The European Court of Human Rights has dismissed an application made by 672 French firefighters to suspend obligatory vaccination.
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has dismissed an application made by 672 French firefighters to temporarily suspend a government ruling requiring them to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
All firefighters, along with gendarmes, healthcare workers and carers, must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by September 15 or October 15 if they have already received one dose.
The 672 firefighters oppose this law 鈥� which came in on August 5 鈥� under Articles 2 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the 鈥渞ight to life鈥� and the 鈥渞ight to respect for private and family life.鈥�
They had asked the court to 鈥渟uspend the obligation to be vaccinated鈥� and any 鈥渞elated measures that could be invoked to prohibit them from doing their job鈥� or from receiving their wage.
In a ruling announced today (August 25), the ECHR deemed this request to be 鈥渙utside of the scope of Article 39鈥� of its rules, which states that the court may introduce 鈥渋nterim measures鈥� if failing to do so would constitute 鈥渁 real risk of irreparable damage鈥� to the parties concerned.
Whilst it will not suspend the vaccination obligation, the court has said that its decision does necessarily impact any 鈥渓ater decisions on the substance or merits of the case in question.鈥�
This is the first European ruling on obligatory Covid-19 vaccination according to lawyer Nicolas Hervieu, a specialist at the ECHR.
Firefighter union Sud SDIS said, in a press release announcing its intention to take the matter to court, that it was not against the vaccine but against compulsory vaccination, which had been 鈥渧ery badly received, even among firefighters who have already been vaccinated.鈥�
Mandatory Covid-19 vaccination of some professions is also being imposed in countries including Australia, Fiji, Greece, Indonesia, Italy, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Micronesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkmenistan.
In England, all care home workers will have to be fully vaccinated to be able to work from October.
In Canada, all federal public servants must soon be vaccinated,
Elsewhere in North America, New York is the first major US city to require proof of vaccination for the staff of restaurants, gyms and other indoor businesses from September 13.
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