Last Monday, the President of the Republic, Carlos Alvarado, signed executive decree No. 43249-S that obliges all public sector workers to receive the Covid-19 vaccine, and allows private sector employers to apply this same taxation in their companies.
Before the announcement, figures such as Walter Muñoz, Eli Feinzaig, Natalia Díaz, Catalina Crespo, and Otto Guevara, recalled that the decision to get vaccinated or not is a fundamental right of everyone and warned that a large amount of protection resources and actions were likely unconstitutional.
Precisely this week Osvaldo Sauma Cortés, a resident of San José, presented before the Contentious Administrative and Civil Court of Finance, a request for a precautionary measure before cause without hearing and the suspension of the execution of the decree that would begin to govern as of Friday, October 15th, and Decree XLV-2021 of the National Commission for Vaccination and Epidemiology of compulsory vaccination.
The citizen maintains that “the executive decree of compulsory vaccination for public officials and private workers is questioned due to serious, notorious and obvious illegality vices through precautionary measure. That is to say, the Executive Power cannot give legal effect to the illegal decree until the Contentious Administrative Court makes a firm decision”.
According to Ernesto Jinesta, Doctor in Administrative Law from the Universidad de Complutense Madrid and Madrid Constitutional Law Specialist, “the situation is very serious because it is violating the fundamental right of citizens provided by Article 49 of the Constitution to challenge, review and supervise any conduct or administrative action. Until the contentious court is definitively pronounced, it is that they can execute an act that is being questioned for notorious vices that are evident and lacking in legality”.
Manifestation before mandatory
Demonstration around the Ombudsman’s Office
The group “Movement for Health and Freedom” organized a demonstration in front of the Ombudsman’s Office and another in front of the Ministry of Health. Hundreds of people who are against the obligation proposed by the decree participated in it.
Catalina Crespo, head of the institution, invited President Alvarado and the Minister of Health, Daniel Salas, to a discussion with this group when they learned about the planned demonstration; however, the President rejected the meeting.
Covid-19 Vaccine Mandatory Agreement, September 24, 2021
“We regret that no authority is assigned to listen to these people and present the official arguments that support the mandatory nature of vaccination,” said Crespo. She added that it is not anti-vaccination and that it does not promote non-vaccination. Likewise, she asked the President of the Republic not to make false news to divert attention from national problems.
“It is only through dialogue and human respect that many of these people could change their position and accept the vaccine. With only one Costa Rican, of the 800,000 who have so far expressed their rejection of vaccination, to get vaccinated, we will save lives. And from the Office of the Ombudsman we are working on that”, concluded the Ombudsman.
