Italy’s Constitutional Court recently reaffirmed that compulsory vaccination for doctors, the over-50s, school staff, and nurses was legitimate. The Court ruled in Rome that the anti-Covid vaccination requirement was neither unreasonable nor disproportionate. In the Court’s words, the obligation was legitimately introduced to protect the health of all citizens. Thus, the Court dismissed the appeals raised against the decree the government headed by Mario Draghi in April 2021 imposed the vaccine on the over-50s. The decision was taken last week by the Court: the session lasted a full day and the Court upheld and legitimized the measures bitterly contested by the “no vax” movement.
The final ruling will be published in the coming weeks, but the brief previews touch on three issues raised by the appeals. As for first appeal called for the unconstitutionality of “the impossibility for health professionals who have not fulfilled the vaccination obligation, to carry out their work activity when it does not involve interpersonal contact”. The Constitutional Court did not enter the merits of the question, since it declared this appeal inadmissible “for procedural reasons”. As for the second appeal, on the alleged disproportionality of the government’s measure, was settled by the Court as follows: “The choices of the legislature adopted during the pandemic period on the vaccination obligation of health personnel were found not to be unreasonable or disproportionate”.
The government’s choices, therefore, are approved by the Court because they promoted the protection of the health of all citizens. In the name of the collective interest, therefore, the government’s vaccination regulations were considered as legitimate. The Covid-19 pandemic justified the imposition of compulsory vaccination for certain categories deemed to be at risk. Finally, the third appeal addressed by the Court was that the failure to provide maintenance allowance to the unvaccinated who were left without employment and without a salary was not illegitimate. To date in Italy, less than three out of ten citizens – including frail patients – have had their third dose.
Amedeo Gasparini
(Published on amedeogasparini.com)