KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Senior Counsel Anthony Astaphan, the chief lawyer for the state in the vaccine mandate lawsuit in which the High Court ruled against the government on 13 of the 14 issues, says there are “compelling reasons” why the Court of Appeal should review the matter.
Speaking on Boom FM on Wednesday, he said the court ruling “affects the ability of every government, including the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as to how they confront the next infectious disease crisis that it faces, which was killing citizens, hospitalizing citizens, disrupting businesses as some of the countries suffered significantly from the shutdowns of the COVID crisis.”
“There needs to be clarity in the law, a higher level of understanding of what the law is to guide the government in the future,” he added, two days after Justice Esco Henry delivered what Jomo Thomas, one of the claimants’ lawyers, described as “the legal equivalent of a slam dunk.”
Justice Esco Henry is yet to release the full reasons for quashing the decision of the government to deem hundreds of public sector workers as having resigned from their jobs after they failed to take a COVID-19 vaccine by December 2021.
The judge ruled that all of the workers continue to be entitled to hold the respective offices to which they were appointed, respectively, by the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, and the Commissioner of Police at the appropriate time.
She said that the dismissed workers are entitled to the full pay and all benefits due and payable to them in their respective capacities as public officers or police officers, including any accrued pension and gratuity benefits or rights from the respective dates they were deemed to have resigned.
Astaphan said his team was “amazed” by the court’s decision.
He said they had advised the government to appeal despite having yet to see the full judgment.
“Well, we have the specifics of the reasons she gave on Monday, but we don’t have the written judgment yet. But you don’t need the written judgment,” the senior lawyer said.
“We can’t wait because this is a matter of critical importance, and it’s now an urgent one based on some of the judge’s orders.”
In her ruling on Monday, the judge said that the government is liable to each claimant for damages for the constitutional breaches “inclusive of an additional award to reflect the seriousness of the breaches and to deter any recurrence with interest at the statutory rate of 6 percent per annum”.
Astaphan said his team is applying for a stay of execution of the judge’s orders, and they’re hoping to have a decision from the Court of Appeal by September, if not by the middle of the year.
He said the case contains critically critical constitutional questions that need to be determined by a higher court.
Astaphan, who is Dominican and has worked for governments across the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, said people have been asking about the implications for how governments in the region respond to another public health emergency.
“This is not a civil commotion or riot case, imprisoning people without reasonable cause. This was a case when there was a COVID crisis that killed people in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, that hospitalized [people], that disrupted social life, and so on,” he said.
Astaphan said the government was required, under the Constitution, to take measures in the public interest and in the interest of public health to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
“Having taken what the government based largely on medical advice given by the chief medical officer and supported by PAHO and others to find out that every single thing that government did in seeking to protect the lives of the very public officers and others who sued the government … is wrong, is a conclusion that cannot be left unchallenged,” he said.
“There has to be some clarity from a higher court as to whether what the government did was constitutionally proper.”
Astaphan suggested that his team is prepared to advise the government to take the case to the London-based Privy Council, SVG’s highest court.
However, he said he is confident the Court of Appeal will rule in favor of the government.
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