Two healthcare students in Trinity College Dublin say they are seeking to take a court action against a decision by the university not to allow them to complete their clinical placement unless they provide proof of vaccination.
Bríd Ní Ghoibín and Inés Lonergan, two second year healthcare students training as a midwife and physiotherapist, respectively, say that they have offered to take part in routine testing for COVID-19, to wear additional PPE beyond what is required, and are open to “whatever other non-pharmaceutical measures that could help mitigate any risk posed to patients” but that these suggestions have been made “to no avail”.
The students said that they “are in the middle of our degrees. Now, we are being told that we must either prove that we have received a Covid-19 vaccine or risk bidding farewell to our career dreams, degrees, and all the hard work and savings already invested in them”.
A crowdfunder to raise money for the legal challenge has attracted steady support in the first 24 hours.
The students said that patients’ health and well-being was “at the centre of our professions and will always come first”, but that the university had adopted a narrative on vaccine passes they believed was “not accurate”.
“The narrative that the HSE and universities have adopted – that the unvaccinated are a danger to those who are vaccinated – is simply not accurate,” they said. “A recent study published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases journal has found that those vaccinated against COVID-19 are just as likely to transmit the disease as their unvaccinated counterparts.”
“We have offered to take part in routine testing for COVID-19, to wear additional PPE beyond what is required, and are open to whatever other non-pharmaceutical measures that could help mitigate any risk posed to patients but to no avail,” they wrote.
They also claimed that clinical leads in the placement programme had “refused to meet with students to discuss measures to ensure that unvaccinated students can proceed with placement safely”.
“Clinical placement is a core part of our training, without which we cannot qualify as a midwife or physiotherapist. We were told by our university that all options would be explored in order to facilitate us going on placement, only to be later given an ultimatum: take the vaccine or risk losing your career,” the two young women said.
“When we enrolled in our respective courses, we satisfied all criteria – including all required vaccinations – and set out with an expectation of being able to finish the degrees we had started. The goalposts have now been moved,” they said, adding that the university and the HSE had adopted what they described as “discriminatory policies” – which they said ” seek to exclude from education those who do not wish to receive a newly-developed vaccine for whatever personal reasons.”
“We contend that the mandate by HSE and university to disclose vaccination status against COVID-19 as a prerequisite to participation in core clinical placements is discriminatory, coercive and in contravention of Data Protection (GDPR) legislation. Students’ decision to accept or decline vaccination is a private matter and should be a personal choice, informed and free of coercion,” the students added.
“We intend to challenge these discriminatory and unjust policies at the High Court. This is the start of a journey. We wish to pave the way so that other students don’t have to endure the same inequality and maltreatment that we currently face.”