Court of Appeal decision reflects a sea change in the approach to the vaccination of children in local authority care overturning an earlier line of authority that treated vaccination as a “grave” and “serious” issue.
Alison Grief, Chris Barnes and Harry Langford appeared for the respondent local authority resisting an appeal which considered whether local authorities could make arrangements for the vaccination of children in their care, in the face of parental opposition, under their statutory powers or whether they are required to seek declaratory relief from the High Court to authorise their actions.
The Court of Appeal announced that they were refusing the appeal with reasons to follow, thereby upholding the decision of Hayden J in Re T (A Child) [2020] EWHC 220 (Fam).
The decision empowers local authorities to take responsible decisions regarding vaccination for the vulnerable children in their care and no longer requires the involvement of Courts where parental objections don’t reflect the child’s interests or any reasoned basis not to vaccinate.
Read The Guardian article here.
Read The Telepgraph article here.
Read The Daily Mail article here.