NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather forecasts

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Budget 2025
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
    • Cooking the Books
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • What the Actual
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Education and health sector staff launch fresh High Court challenge to vaccination mandates

Ethan Griffiths
By Ethan Griffiths
Executive Producer - Wellington Mornings·NZ Herald·
3 Mar, 2022 02:30 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

A group of education and health employees have returned to the High Court in Wellington to challenge the sectors' vaccination mandate. Photo / NZME

A group of education and health employees have returned to the High Court in Wellington to challenge the sectors' vaccination mandate. Photo / NZME

A legal challenge questioning the lawfulness of the Government's Covid-19 vaccination mandate for educators and health workers has begun at the High Court in Wellington, as a new group of anti-mandate protesters gathers in the capital to support the challenge.

The judicial review, brought to the court by New Zealand Teachers Speaking Out with Science (NZTSOS) and an affiliated group of doctors (NZDSOS), is seeking that High Court Justice Francis Cooke strike down the vaccination order, claiming the mandate breaches the Bill of Rights Act.

The group claims the vaccination mandate is not a "demonstrably justified" breach of the Bill of Rights, namely the right to decline medical treatment.

The High Court challenge also questions the usefulness of vaccination mandates in an Omicron environment, pointing to comments from some medical professionals suggesting that the variant's extreme transmissibility renders mandates unnecessary.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Read More

  • Covid-19 Omicron outbreak: Parties pressure government ...
  • Covid 19 Omicron Outbreak: Vaccine pass mandate under ...
  • Covid-19 Delta: My Vaccine Pass mandate catches churches, ...
  • Covid 19 anti vaccine mandate protests in Christchurch, ...

The challenge to the vaccination order is the second brought to the High Court by the two groups - the first having been dismissed by High Court Justice Matthew Palmer in November.

Supporting the new challenge is a portfolio of 81 affidavits filed by teachers and health workers across the country - a number of whom have lost their jobs after refusing to be vaccinated.

This week's challenge is similar to that made by a group of Police and Defence Force employees, also in front of Justice Cooke. That group was last week successful in their claim that the mandate affecting that sector was an unjustified incursion on the Bill of Rights.

Both Police and the NZDF have since suspended all terminations of unvaccinated staff as a result of the decision.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Protesters supporting the challenge of education sector vaccination mandates gathered in Wellington on Thursday. Photo / Mike Scott
Protesters supporting the challenge of education sector vaccination mandates gathered in Wellington on Thursday. Photo / Mike Scott

According to December figures, there are 1461 employees across all 20 district health boards who have been affected by the mandates. Some of those staff chose to resign, while 814 had their employment terminated.

But the number of staff affected in the education sector isn't clear, with school boards themselves holding information on affected staff, rather than the Ministry of Education.

Not every school responded to a Ministry survey that attempted to paint a more detailed picture on the scale of staff affected.

Acting for the applicants, lawyer Warren Pyke read the court a number of affidavits from affected education and health staff, including GPs, occupational therapists, and early childhood teachers, detailing the effect of the mandates.

Discover more

New Zealand

Top cop Coster stands by how the situation at Parliament was handled

02 Mar 09:00 PM
New Zealand

Parliament protesters regroup on Miramar Peninsula, council poised for mass clean-up

02 Mar 10:58 PM
Opinion

Steve Braunias: 'Things are f****d up' - the carnival is over; it's back to the pandemic and a war

03 Mar 03:00 AM
New Zealand|politics

Watch: PM inspects protest damage, Parliament grounds a 'rubbish dump'

03 Mar 02:40 AM

A number of those who filed affidavits detailed that they would be comfortable to be tested daily if it meant they could return to work.

Others detailed the effect that the mandate had on patients - particularly those who lost their GP in the wake of terminations.

"People will lose their family doctor, people will lose their GP. Continuity of care is likely to be compromised," an affected employee submitted to the court.

Another affidavit detailed claims of multiple reactions to the first vaccine dose, leading to the person making a decision to not receive a second dose.

Pyke also told the court that the concept of vaccination mandates was summed up best by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern herself, when she accepted in an interview with the Herald that the mandates created two classes of people.

"That is, with respect to the Honourable Prime Minister, an accurate observation. That is what it is."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While Thursday's hearing predominantly heard from lawyers acting for the applicants, it's expected representatives for Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins are to submit to the court tomorrow.

A large group of protesters gathered outside the Wellington Railway Station on Thursday morning, in support of the challenge.

With the High Court situated over the road from Parliament, the continued closure of Molesworth St meant protesters could not gather directly outside the court.

In a statement to Open Justice, a NZTSOS spokesperson said there are protests planned over the next five days, but assured the public they would be peaceful, unlike the violent conflict between police and protestors seen on Wednesday.

The challenge is expected to conclude on Monday.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Afternoon quiz: What was the name of the horse Alexander the Great famously tamed and rode?

23 May 03:00 AM
New Zealand|crime

Police 'urgently' seek ute driver after road-rage knife incident

23 May 02:58 AM
Crime

Judge grants mercy for phone repairer who went viral trying to AirDrop intimate photo

23 May 02:25 AM

The Hire A Hubby hero turning handyman stereotypes on their head

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Afternoon quiz: What was the name of the horse Alexander the Great famously tamed and rode?

Afternoon quiz: What was the name of the horse Alexander the Great famously tamed and rode?

23 May 03:00 AM

Test your knowledge with the Herald's afternoon quiz.

Police 'urgently' seek ute driver after road-rage knife incident

Police 'urgently' seek ute driver after road-rage knife incident

23 May 02:58 AM
Judge grants mercy for phone repairer who went viral trying to AirDrop intimate photo

Judge grants mercy for phone repairer who went viral trying to AirDrop intimate photo

23 May 02:25 AM
Arrested man claims police beat him, then released him to walk 20km back to Napier

Arrested man claims police beat him, then released him to walk 20km back to Napier

23 May 02:13 AM
Gold demand soars amid global turmoil
sponsored

Gold demand soars amid global turmoil

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search