New Zealand’s High Court Shuts Down Vax Mandates on Police and Soldiers

A New Zealand high court ruled that coronavirus vaccine mandates on soldiers and police officers is unjustified according to the country’s Bill of Rights.

The ruling was handed down and the end of Feb. with Justice Francis Cooke deciding that firing soldiers and polie officers over the vax mandates were not “reasonably justified” and a breach of the country’s laws, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The paper added:

The lawyer for the police and Defence staff at the centre of the claim is now calling for the suspended workers to return to their jobs immediately, saying many have given decades of service to their community and are still committed to their jobs.

The challenge, put forward by a group of Defence force and police employees, questioned the legality of making an order under the Covid-19 Public Health Response Act to require vaccination for frontline employees.

The challenge was supported by a group of 37 employees affected by the mandate, who submitted written affidavits to the court.

The justices also agreed that the government had no right to summarily shut down religious exemptions for the vaccine.

Justice Cooke noted that “an obligation to receive the vaccine which a person objects to because it has been tested on cells derived from a human fetus, potentially an aborted fetus, does involve a limitation on the manifestation of a religious belief.”

But the justice did not agree that religion should immediately prevent vax mandates.

The court also ruled that since the vaccines no longer have much effect on the Omicron variant and the original variants are now less problematic, demanding vaccines is no longer meaningful.

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Tags: Commentary coronavirus COVID military New Zealand police Vaccine