Religious groups fail in vax mandate case

The Orewa Community Church and Others filed a suit against former director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield. (Image: Getty)

Greg Hurrell

Wed, 17 Aug 2022

The government acted lawfully in restricting religious gatherings as part of New Zealand’s covid response, the high court in Wellington has ruled. This is despite the court also ruling that vaccination requirements for such gatherings did restrict rights and freedoms under the Bill of Rights. In her Aug 16 ruling, Justice Cheryl Gwyn said those gathering restrictions were legally justified once the omicron virus variant arrived in NZ.Two groups of religious organisations had brought separate claims against the minister for the c...

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