St Vincent government files appeal in vaccine mandate case

The Ralph Gonsalves government in St Vincent and the Grenadines will be moving ahead to appeal a judge ruling that it was unconstitutional to fire hundreds of public servants who refused to take the Covid-19 jab.

The courts in St Vincent ruled on Monday in favor of the workers who insisted that they were dismissed wrongfully by the government during the peak of the pandemic

“We have advised the government that we believe there is considerable merit in an appeal. We have also advised them that in the public interest, an appeal is required for the very simple reason that the government needs to know and have the guidance of a higher court on what should be done when a government is confronted with a crisis and an infectious disease that kills and hospitalized citizens,” Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan said. He was the lead attorney in the matter

According to Astaphan, “we ought not to lose sight of the context, which was decisions made to protect the life and the health of public servants and the general population amid a Covid-19 crisis that was ravaging the entire world with considerable loss of life…” he said.

He said the case arose because the government took measures to protect the health of public servants based on the advice from the medical director of the chief medical director which Astaphan says was uncontradicted during the trial.

Justice Henry said in her ruling that the dismissal letters issued to the claimants, including letters issued by St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College, violated the Constitution.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, St Vincent and the Grenadines government fired more than 300 public sector workers over their failure to take a COVID-19 vaccine, as mandated by Cabinet.

The judge said, however, legislation by the government was unconstitutional.