The Employment and Labour Relations Court declined Civil Servants’ request to stop the state from requiring mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.
While dismissing a lawsuit filed by members of the Kenya Catholic Doctors’ Association (KCDA), Justice James Rika stated that it is legal for any public employer to withhold wages and allowances from those who refuse the vaccine jab.
“Employers are justified in ceasing pay in cases where public officers have purposefully refused to receive covid-19 vaccination and instead choose to work from home,” the judge ruled.
He stated that the government of Kenya’s mandatory vaccination directive for public officers, issued on August 23, 2021 by the Head of Public Service Joseph Kinyua, does not constitute human medical experimentation.
The doctors argued that the mandatory vaccination was discriminatory against all public officers who were not vaccinated.
The Petitioners also claimed that vaccines are only approved for emergency use and that there is no evidence of their effectiveness, despite the fact that the UN Nuremberg Code requires informed consent from those who are to be vaccinated.
They also argued that the aforementioned individuals must be educated on vaccine alternatives and their right to information must be respected, and that there is ample evidence demonstrating that vaccine alternatives reduced Covid-19 fatality rates from 9.1% to 2.5%.
