Europe’s top rights court sides with San Marino over Covid vaccine requirements 

(CN) — The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday found San Marino had not violated the rights of health care workers by forcing them to change jobs or docking their pay if they declined a mandatory Covid vaccination.

A group of 26 employees of the microstate’s health care agency argued that their decision whether to get vaccinated was a private one; they said disciplinary measures taken against unvaccinated staff violated the European Convention of Human Rights, the treaty that underpins the Strasbourg-based court.

The seven-judge panel rejected the argument. The court concluded “it was not unreasonable to alleviate measures in respect of vaccinated persons who themselves were less at risk, while maintaining them for the applicants who remained themselves at risk of infection and serious consequences to their health.”

The workers first filed suit in San Marino, a small nation within Italy’s borders, and initiated the proceedings at the ECHR after their legal challenge was rejected by the country’s Constitutional Court.

In May 2021, the Social Security Institute — the country’s health service — invited its staff to receive a Covid-19 vaccination. The group, which included pharmacists, doctors, nurses and a rescue diver from the country’s emergency response organization, declined to take the shot.

The organization tried to move the employees to roles with less contact with patients and allowed them to take holiday or other leave. If the sides couldn’t find another solution, staff members could be suspended without pay but were offered 600 euros ($664) per month if they participated in certain “socially useful activities” like community service.

The group of 19 San Marino citizens, six Italians and one Moldovan national argued the vaccine did not guarantee immunity from the virus and the loss of work had a significant financial, emotional and psychological impact.

Personal circumstances varied, but together the group lost nearly 250,000 euros ($277,135) in salary, ranging from about 75,000 euros ($83,000) for a medical director to 500 euros ($554) for a health care assistant who was transferred to another position.

The judges found that for many of the group, the financial losses were not substantial and could have been partially alleviated by participating in community service.

“In the court’s view, it could not be expected of individuals to continue to receive a pay when refusing to undertake any work whatsoever,” the judges wrote in the ruling.

The court has largely dismissed challenges to Covid-19 restrictions. Countries have “a wide margin of appreciation in health care policy matters”, the court panel wrote in Thursday’s decision.

Last year, the court dismissed the first challenge to pandemic restrictions on a technicality. A Swiss trade union filed the case after Geneva forbade the group from holding its 2020 May Day gathering, but judges said the union had not brought the case to the court within a six-month deadline.

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