A New South Wales Police officer is taking legal action against the state Health Minister Brad Hazzard over the COVID-19 injection, which for many is for all intents and purposes mandatory if they wish to work and lead semi-normal lives.
Although police officers have not been singled out for mandatory vaccinations, they are still considered to be essential workers and are being urged to obtain vaccinations.
Over and above that, officers officers who live in Local Government Areas (LGAs) of concern in Greater Sydney, must be vaccinated before they can leave those LGAs to go to work.
Senior Constable Belinda Hocroft, who is attached to the Dog and Mounted Police unit, has filed civil proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW against the health minister seeking a declaration that the government does not have the power to pass orders which essentially coerce people into being vaccinated.
Ms Hocroft’s legal team says the lawsuit, “specifically challenges the extent to which the Government may coerce its citizens to have themselves injected with a drug they object to taking, especially when there is a less intrusive alternative of having the unvaccinated citizens tested to ensure that they are not carrying the virus.”
The Senior Constable has been working as a NSW Police Officer for 14 years and has been told that she cannot return to work until she has had one dose of the Covid-19 vaccination because she comes from a ‘hotspot’ zone.
“I am not against vaccines as such. However I am concerned about the long term effects of Covid-19 given they are relatively new vaccines,” Ms Hocroft said in an affidavit to support her legal action.