Judge allows fight against quashing of jab exemptions

Serial litigant claims authorities abused power in invalidating certificates issued by seven doctors

A High Court judge has allowed a judicial challenge against the government’s decision to invalidate more than 20,000 Covid-19 vaccination exemption certificates issued by seven doctors, allegedly without proper diagnosis.

Retired civil servant and serial litigant Kwok Cheuk-kin filed a judicial review application last Friday in which he argued health authorities had abused their power in quashing the exemption documents and had subjected those unfit to receive the jabs to discriminatory treatment.

Kwok, who claimed to have a certificate endorsed by one of the doctors, also said government restrictions barring unvaccinated people from entering certain premises were unlawful and constituted a human rights violation.

Mr Justice Russell Coleman yesterday granted leave to Kwok to initiate proceedings after considering his written submissions. The judge scheduled a hearing for this morning to give further directions to parties “in view of the potential urgency”.

Police arrested six doctors last month for allegedly issuing jab exemptions without proper medical diagnosis, with another practitioner still wanted by the force. The seventh suspect left Hong Kong in June last year but still operated his clinic and consulted patients remotely.

The decision to invalidate more than 20,000 Covid-19 vaccination exemption certificates has wiped out over half of such documents in use in the city.

At least 26 patients have been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud for allegedly buying the certificates, some believed to have cost up to HK$5,000.

The certificates issued by the seven doctors will be deemed invalid from tomorrow, with the government last week saying that affected document holders could book a free consultation with general outpatient clinics at public hospitals to determine if they qualified for an exemption.

In his court filing, Kwok said he had been subjected to differential treatment under the government’s vaccine pass scheme, which limits people’s mobility based on their inoculation status.

“The Health Bureau abused its power and prohibited those not suitable to take the vaccines from various activities as if [we] were criminals,” he said.

Coleman upheld the constitutionality of the scheme in a separate legal challenge, finding it to be a legitimate measure to protect public health. But he said the government’s overall approach was shortsighted and that the “dynamic-zero” Covid-19 strategy had become “increasingly out of step” with most other countries, which had chosen to live with the virus.

The Health Bureau said it would not comment on a case involved in legal proceedings.

The Health Bureau … prohibited those not suitable to take the vaccines from various activities as if [we] were criminals

KWOK CHEUK-KIN IN HIS COURT FILING