Mum loses bid to stop girl, 12, getting vaccine
A woman who went to court to stop her daughter being vaccinated for Covid-19 has had her bid denied.
It is the latest in a string of cases that saw the Family Court take the side of a person who is pro-vaccine.
The woman, who cannot be named, made an application to the Auckland Family Court to prevent her 12-year-old daughter getting the jab.
Judge Sarah Jane Fleming heard the matter in February. Her just-released decision shows the girl wanted to be vaccinated as she believed it was the ‘‘right thing to do’’.
She was anxious about catching Covid and was missing out on activities with her peers – including competing in competitions and going to the movies – because she wasn’t vaccinated.
Her father supported her wishes, saying the issue was causing his daughter a great deal of stress.
She had argued repeatedly with her mother about it and had stopped seeing her two weeks before the court hearing, instead moving in with her father to avoid further clashes.
‘‘She was fed up with her mother’s efforts to manipulate her into not getting the vaccine,’’ the court heard.
The girl’s mother argued her daughter could suffer severe side effects from the jab and its risks outweighed its benefits. At 12, her daughter was not old enough to make decisions around vaccination for herself, the woman said.
Judge Fleming disagreed, saying the girl appeared to be a ‘‘mature, thoughtful child’’ and her views should be given ‘‘considerable weight’’.
The judge accepted the mother had concerns around the longerterm effects of the Covid-19 vaccine on children, which she
claimed were unknown.
‘‘Of course, the longer-term effects of a child at this age contracting the virus are also largely unknown,’’ the judge said.
The girl was otherwise healthy and there was no evidence she would be at serious risk of side effects or an adverse reaction, the decision said.
Judge Fleming declined the application to prevent the girl being vaccinated.
It comes after a Pukekohe court ordered a 5-year-old boy to get the jab after his parents couldn’t agree. The same scenario had played out in a Dunedin court in February, ending with an order for an 11-year-old to be vaccinated.
In April, a judge ruled three siblings – one who was vulnerable to severe illness if he caught Covid – should be vaccinated, in opposition to their father’s wishes.
Their father was also not allowed to see the children until they had been vaccinated.
. . . the girl wanted to be vaccinated as she believed it was the ‘‘right thing to do’’.