Compulsory Vaccination and Fundamental Human Rights in the World of Work

Sara Hungler

Abstract


During the COVID-19 epidemiological emergency, several countries adopted regulations which have affected the world of work. The impact of these measures on workers and other employees has been the subject of numerous studies. Among the legislation, there are some that apply to specific occupational groups, such as healthcare workers, and others that apply more generally to a broad section of society. What they have in common is that they restrict the fundamental rights of workers to an extent that justifies a thorough human rights and constitutional rights analysis. The aim of this paper is to analyse the issue of compulsory vaccination by focusing primarily on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and attempt to interpret it in relation to the domestic regulation of the COVID-19 pandemic. The second part of the paper is a case study based on the Hungarian legislation, which was adopted recently.


Keywords


COVID-19; human rights; employees; European Court of Human Rights; Hungarian legislation

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References


LITERATURE

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ONLINE SOURCES

European Court of Human Rights, Refusal of requests for interim measures in respect of the Greek law on compulsory vaccination of health-sector staff against Covid-19, Press Release issued by the Registrar of the Court, ECHR 266 (2021), 9.9.2021, https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf/?library=ECHR&id=003-7113391-9633858&filename=Request%20for%20interim%20measures%20against%20Greece%20concerning%20compulsory%20vaccination%20for%20health%20staff.pdf (access: 21.2.2022)

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LEGAL ACTS

Act XX of 1949 on the Constitution of the Republic of Hungary.

Act CLIV of 1997 on Health.

Act No. I of 2012 – Labour Code.

Act No. CXXII of 2019 – Social Insurance Act.

Directive 2001/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 November 2001 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use (OJ L 311, 28.11.2001, pp. 67–128).

European Social Charter.

Fundamental Law of Hungary (25 April 2011).

Government Decree No. 449/2021 (VII. 29).

Government Decree No. 598/2021 (X. 28).

Government Decree No. 599/2021 (X. 28).

CASE LAW

Association of Parents v. the United Kingdom, Application no. 7154/75.

Carlo Boffa and others v. San Marino, Application no. 26536/95.

Costello-Roberts v. the United Kingdom, Application no. 13134/87.

Hungarian Constitutional Court Decision No. 39/2007 (VI. 20).

Hungarian Constitutional Court Decision No. 27/2021 (XI. 5).

Hungarian Constitutional Court Decision No. IV/3010/2021.

Kakaletri and others v. Greece, Application no. 43375/21.

LCB v. the United Kingdom, Application no. 23413/94.

Theofanopoulou and others v. Greece, Application no. 43910/21.

Vavricka and others v. Czech Republic, Application nos. 47621/13, 3867/14, 73094/14, 19298/15, 19306/15, 43883/15.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/sil.2022.31.1.63-77
Date of publication: 2022-03-29 11:56:17
Date of submission: 2022-01-06 12:30:23


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