New law could allow temporary mandatory vaccinations, legal scholar says

A new infectious disease prevention law could potentially allow authorities to make vaccination temporarily mandatory when the public interest in protection is sufficiently strong, legal scholar Haukur Logi Karlsson told mbl.is.

Haukur Logi, an associate professor and dean of the University of Bifröst’s law faculty, said any such measure would be subject to assessments of proportionality and human rights.

The law, which took effect on September 1, has prompted debate about the scope of the authorities’ powers and whether it permits mandatory vaccinations.

Under Article 28, a minister may, following recommendations from an epidemic committee and when dealing with a disease dangerous to society, issue regulations on public disease prevention measures. The measures listed include immunisation procedures, which the law defines as including vaccination.

Haukur Logi said a possible requirement would not be unconditional. Authorities would have to weigh the public protection interests against other interests and assess how far it would be justifiable to go.

That assessment would include whether the measure infringed rights protected under the human rights provisions of the Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights, he said.

Article 16 of the new law specifically requires proportionality and equality in the use of disease prevention measures. It also states that measures under Article 28 may be used only when urgently necessary to protect people’s lives and health.

The law also provides for government involvement in such decisions. Individuals could subsequently ask the courts to assess whether the authorities had acted proportionately in weighing the general protection interests against their personal interests, Haukur Logi said.

Chief Epidemiologist Guðrún Aspelund rejected claims earlier this week that the new law introduced mandatory vaccinations.

“There is nothing in the law that refers to mandatory vaccinations or indicates anything of the sort,” Guðrún told mbl.is.

She said the term immunisation procedure was not new in disease prevention legislation and that the authority to issue regulations on vaccinations did not automatically make them compulsory.

Guðrún acknowledged that such a requirement could be theoretically possible in the sense that ministers could issue regulations, but said nothing in the law indicated that vaccinations would be mandatory. She stressed that she was not a lawyer and was not interpreting the legislation.

Haukur Logi’s assessment concerns how far the legal authority could extend when the protection interests were sufficiently strong and subject to proportionality and human rights considerations, rather than whether the law explicitly establishes a general vaccination requirement.