Covid vaccination - can it be required on H&S grounds? I think this whole thread just shows how many perspectives there are on this matter, overall a reflection of the confusion emitting from our leaders, enforcement agencies trying to enforce it, HS in workplace and our workers.
Our right to refuse medical treatment is protected under common law and is written into the Bill of Rights Act, Section 11 “Everyone has the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment”. By compelling a person to receive a medical treatment or lose their employment they no longer have the ability to provide informed consent and are instead providing coerced consent.
The Covid-19 Public Health Response Act 2020, powers granted to Ministers are confined to the Bill Of Rights Act 1990, that Bill would override such legislation, including ministerial powers under such legislation; they would need to justify any limitations ordered on those rights, really it can only be overridden when someone or some group shows up with Ebola or some other plague
Therefore the threshold for mandatory vaccination is high especially for workers who are non boarder facing or employed in health care. Mandating it for teachers, tradies, KFC workers is questionable.
There is no definition of Covid other than flu type symptoms in the Covid Act otherwise the Act would fit into the framework of the NZ Health Act, part 3 Infectious and Notifiable Diseases purpose of which is the prevention of outbreak and spread; powers under both pieces of legislation are not dissimilar.
This seems to fit with panels of experts such as the EU High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID)and Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP). Tasked with guiding UK public health response on up to date worldwide data for mortality from the like of viruses like diseases. HCIDs include Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
In as early as March 2020 and still applicable today, they classified covid as a non-infectious disease of note due to overall low mortality in the general population.
They found that those most of risk of death are those at: end of life in a hospital setting including home based respite care due to fragility, disease or comorbidity; and, the medical teams, caregivers and families of those patients; and that
Numerous factors skewer mortality rates including: standard of available public health care; health of population ( >90% of all USA covid deaths is said to have occurred in people living with 4+ comorbidities); available treatment options (UE has for example lifted the ban on a treatment option with an almost 100% success rate in reducing mortality in all covid patients incl. those most at risk) our Covid Bill seeks to prohibit the use of that treatment in NZ ) and rates of naturally acquired immunity in the population as reported out of Israel suggest vaccine against preventing COVID-19 infection was reported to be 39%], substantially lower than the trial efficacy of 96%]. It is also emerging that immunity derived from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine may not be as strong as immunity acquired through recovery from the COVID-19 virus .A substantial decline in immunity from mRNA vaccines 6-months post immunization has also been reported
While vaccinations form part of a business’ methods of controlling the risk of infection, employers must therefore have other plans in place if workers refuse. Our prime minster spoke of quick fire rapid test kits in workplaces and airports already in use in other countries.
For employers who make vaccines mandatory to continue on-site work, by doing so it could lead to legal challenges in the future. Employers must be prepared for that and weigh up alternatives to mandatory vaccinations if it comes to it.
We will also need to consider that we already know that both the vaccinated and unvaccinated carry the same viral loads, what implications will this pose for say a vaccinated electrician with viral load going into the home of a new born to complete work.