Kuala lumpur: The Court of Appeal today dismissed appeals filed by five school teachers and 19 Universiti Malaya (UM) staff who challenged a government's circular requiring them to undergo compulsory COVID-19 vaccination. A three-member bench comprising Justices Datuk Mohamed Zaini Mazlan, Datuk Ahmad Kamal Md Shahid, and Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Harun found no merits in the appeals brought by the two groups.
According to BERNAMA News Agency, Justice Ahmad Kamal delivered the court's unanimous decision, stating that the appellants' contention that the circular was tainted by irrationality, unreasonableness, or disproportionality does not hold water. He explained that the measures undertaken by the government were intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 and safeguard public health. The COVID-19 pandemic was described as a global health crisis that required coordinated efforts by authorities, including vaccination to control transmission.
Justice Ahmad Kamal highlighted that the health ministry recorded over 2,000 cases a day in 2021 and reported over 19,000 deaths. The court awarded the government and the UM registrar RM15,000 each in costs.
On October 27, 2021, the five teachers from five different schools in Terengganu, Kelantan, Melaka, and Selangor jointly filed their judicial review application against six respondents - namely the education minister, the education director-general, the Public Service Department (PSD) director-general, the health minister, the health director-general, and the Malaysian government. The 19 UM staff members on October 29, 2021, separately filed a similar judicial review application against the UM registrar, the PSD director-general, the health minister, and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
Among the orders sought by the appellants were to quash the decision to implement COVID-19 vaccination for public servants under the federal government as per the 2021 circular and a declaration that they and other public servants have the freedom to choose whether or not to undergo COVID-19 vaccination. On December 14, 2023, the High Court dismissed their judicial review application, prompting them to appeal to the Court of Appeal.
At the Court of Appeal today, senior federal counsel Liew Horng Bin and federal counsel Siti Norashikin Hassanor appeared for the government, while lawyers Muhammad Amin Anuar, Adrian Yeow, Nurul Zawawi Abd Rahim, and Nurazatul Farhana Shahrudin represented the appellants. Lawyers Raja Eileen Soraya Raja Aman and Melanie Lim represented the UM registrar.