In the press conference on 14 September, the demissionary cabinet announced an implementation of the Dutch CoronaCheck app that is broader than before. Martin Buijsen, Professor of Health Law at Erasmus School of Law, states in the AD that the discussion on using a corona certificate is getting blurry.
Previously, we only used the certificate to access parties and big events, but from 25 September onwards, the CoronaCheck app is also mandatory for accessing cafes, restaurants and cinemas. The corona certificate you get after being fully vaccinated or after a negative test result will therefore be used on a bigger scale. Does this lead to forced vaccination?
Urgency or compulsory?
The Dutch Health Council concluded that vaccination would be involuntary when there is no other option than getting vaccinated and when unvaccinated, people no longer have access to essential services or are getting fined. Currently, this is not the case. Unvaccinated people still have access to all services but do need a negative test result. Nonetheless, getting access to the cinema or a café is not an essential service. Buijsen confirms that also academically, this policy does not lead to forced vaccinations but emphasises that there is some inconsistency regarding the use of the corona certificate: “the discussion about the corona certificate is getting a bit blurry. In the first instance, the certificate was solely meant to organise a safe event to prevent people from infecting each other. Now, the certificate is also used to move people to get vaccinated, says Health minister De Jonge.”
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Read the entire article by the AD here (Dutch).
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