UM staff, teachers lose appeal over govt’s Covid-19 vaccine programme

The Court of Appeal says the government was entitled to take efforts to control the spread of the pandemic.

The Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that Putrajaya’s directive making vaccination compulsory for civil servants was not unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional.

PUTRAJAYA:

 The Court of Appeal has dismissed appeals by two groups seeking to challenge the government’s implementation of its Covid-19 vaccination programme five years ago.

The groups, comprising Universiti Malaya academic and administrative staff as well as government school teachers, were appealing the High Court’s dismissal of their challenge to Putrajaya’s directive requiring that they be vaccinated.

Justice Zaini Mazlan, who chaired the panel of judges, said the High Court’s ruling, handed down in 2023, contained no appealable errors to justify setting it aside.

Also on the panel hearing the appeal were Justices Ahmad Kamal Shahid and Radzi Harun.

Delivering the court’s decision, Kamal said the vaccination measure was introduced by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19, which had escalated into a global crisis.

“Coordinated efforts to control Covid-19 such as vaccination were to ensure the public’s health is protected,” he said, noting that the health ministry had recorded more than 2,000 cases a day in 2021.

The court also noted that more than 19,000 deaths were attributed to the disease.

Kamal said the UM staff who filed the judicial review were not subjected to disciplinary action for refusing vaccination.

“In fact, some of them remained in employment while some had left public service,” he said.

He also noted that none of the appellants had produced a medical report to say they ought to be exempted from receiving the vaccine.

The court awarded the government and the UM registrar RM15,000 each in costs.

Lawyers Amin Anuar, Adrian Yeow, Nurul Zawawi Abd Rahim and Nurazatul Farhana Shahrudin represented the appellants, while senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin and Siti Norashikin Hassanor appeared for the government.

Lawyers Melanie Lim and Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman appeared for the UM registrar.

The groups had argued that the government’s decision to administer vaccines was unlawful, irrational and unconstitutional, having been made without their consent.

They further claimed that they were discriminated against and treated unfairly for not taking the vaccination.

In dismissing their judicial review applications, the High Court had said the measures drawn up by the government were necessary given that the spread of the Covid-19 virus worldwide had triggered a global pandemic. - FMT