A Clinical Commissioning Group v FZ & TZ

Best interests decision concerning whether FZ should receive the Covid vaccination.

FZ has learning disabilities and Down's Syndrome and it was accepted that she lacks capacity to decide whether to have the vaccine. Her family opposed the application on several grounds including the unknown side effects of the vaccines and that the vaccine was unacceptable for religious reasons.

HHJ Burrows dismisses most of these objections but, after reviewing the relevant case law on best interests and vaccinations and reminding himself that best interests go wider than just the medical issues and must reflect the wider context, he does consider one point made by the family had merit. In this case, FZ was extremely suspicious of strangers and had a history of rejecting medical interventions in the past. The CCG's plan did not address how they would overcome this resistance and, given that at this stage in the pandemic, vaccination was no longer essential to live a functional life he decided that vaccination, and the inevitable trauma it would cause FZ and her family, was not in FZ's best interests.

Read the full judgment on the Caselaw National Archives site