Council of State of Greece (Συμβούλιο της Επικρατείας), No. 133/2021, 29 June 2021

Compulsory anti-Covid-19 vaccination for Fire Brigade officers as a requirement to serve. Compliance with the principles of proportionality and of equality provided for by the Constitution of Greece   

Article 2 of the Constitution 
Article 5 of the Constitution 
Article 43 of the Constitution 
Article 5 Oviedo Convention 

1. The issuance of the challenged decision was mandated by compelling grounds of public interest which consist in the need to secure the unhindered and continuous function of a public service which requires in turn the complete availability of the staff of the Fire Brigade. The latter would be seriously impaired if the members of the staff would be contaminated and fall ill with COVID. 

2. Vaccination is not coerced on the staff, since the officers maintain the choice not to be vaccinated. Indeed, the decision of the Chief of the Fire Brigade indeed states that only vaccinated officers will mandatorily serve. The officers who will have not or will not schedule their vaccination, will be given a time frame to schedule their vaccination. In the opposite event, a replacement procedure by vaccinated officers will be initiated.

3. The principle of proportionality is not manifestly hurt given the special working conditions of the Fire Brigade, which are characterized by extreme difficulty, team effort, physical contact and increased mobility of the rescue units, which require the highest possible protection of the health of the officers and of the people at large from the danger of contracting COVID disease.  
 
4. The equality principle among the members of staff is not manifestly hurt, because there is no identity of conditions between vaccineated and non-vaccinated people, considering the adverse consequences that non-vaccination may have on the proper function of the Fire Brigade.