Health Minister Sued Over Vaccine Directive

Health Minister Sylvia Masebo is being sued by a Lusaka lawyer over the government’s directive that only people vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed to enter government buildings. 

Kelvin Zimba, an attorney at Mosha and Company, has filed a petition in court claiming that the new rules from the Ministry of Health run contrary to the Zambian Constitution are can therefore not be enforced.

Last week, Ms Masebo announced new coronavirus restrictions which require that anyone entering a government building must be vaccinated against Covid-19. The rules also instruct all civil servants to be vaccinated before returning to work and implemented fines of up to K20,000 for refusing to wear a mask in public places.

The rules came into force on Tuesday, after President Hakainde Hichilema warned of an impending fourth wave of infections facing Zambia as a result of the newly-discovered Omicron variant. 

Mr Zimba is now arguing that these rules are in direct violation of Article 13 of the Zambian constitution, which provides for the right to personal liberty. He claims that as a legal practitioner, he is being prevented from carrying out his work since his job involves visiting various government buildings, including court houses, police stations and patent offices.

He claims that the vaccine mandate would also prevent him from exercising his freedom of conscience, as enshrined in Article 11, and make him choose between his job and his beliefs.

“I believe that the public interest in safeguarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of the individual far outweigh the currently public interest of the vaccination to stop the spread of COVID-19 as there is no guarantee on effectiveness and the vaccinations pose their own risks and threats to humanity,” Mr Zimba said.

Vaccination has been proven as a highly effective means of preventing infection and serious disease by the coronavirus. However, there are now concerns that the omicron variant - first discovered in South Africa - may be able to partially evade the immune system. This has led global governments to massively step up their vaccination campaigns, in order to provide citizens with as strong an immune response as possible.