State Council Decision Allows Unvaccinated Healthcare Workers to Return to Work

The possibility of the return to work of health workers who have not been vaccinated is opened by the decision of the State Council (Supreme Court of Greece), which recognized unconstitutional provided by the end of the year extension of mandatory vaccination of health workers.

Supreme Court appealed by the trade union confederation POEDINdecided that the resolution under consideration on the extension of the mandatory vaccination of medical workers until the end of the year (12/31/2022) is unconstitutionalsince the competent authorities were required, as indicated, to re-assess the need for this measure.

In particular, the seven-member composition of the 3rd section of the Supreme Court of Cassation under the number 2332/2022 (chairman, vice-chairman Georgios Tsimekas and rapporteur Vassilis Androulakis, State Counselor) decided that the decision on the extension of the “Validity period for the reassessment of compulsory vaccination of health care workers” until December 31 2022 is contrary to the constitutional principle of proportionality. At the same time, the Councilors of State rescinded the ministerial decree governing the recruitment of fixed-term employees in accordance with the provisions of article 50 of Law no. 4825/2021.

The competent HS Department, before making a decision, took into account the previous decisions of the plenum, which decided that measures taken to protect public health from coronavirus, such as mandatory vaccination of workers, should be periodically reviewed by the competent state authorities, depending on the existing epidemiological data and evolution of sound scientific assumptions.

Thus, state advisers note in their resolution that more than 8 months have passed since the adoption of the measure for mandatory vaccination of employees of healthcare institutions, i.e. “a period that, due to the nature of the measure and its consequences, is clearly longer than reasonable, without, however, being subject to reassessment, based on current scientific and epidemiological data at that time, the value, effectiveness and consequences of coronavirus vaccines and the course of the pandemic.”

Of course, judicial sources clarified, the competent services that decide on the timing of the compulsory vaccination measure can evaluate the measure for medical workers and fulfill the conditions established by the decision of the State Council.

However, any decision regarding unvaccinated health workers must be taken immediately after the decision of the Council of Europe.

Source link