Judge forces elderly woman to be vaccinated despite her daughter’s refusal

Javier Fraga Mandián, a judge at the court in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), ordered on Wednesday that a resident of a retirement home be vaccinated against Covid-19 despite her daughter’s refusal. The geriatric center appealed to the duty judge on Saturday, January 9 after failing to convince her.

The old lady’s daughter, with “very limited decision-making capacity”, was afraid that her mother would suffer from the possible side effects of the vaccine. But for the magistrate, the injection constitutes a “less risk” than doing nothing.

Volunteer-based vaccination

He even considered that the girl’s position “goes against the interests of the resident concerning the maintenance of her state of health and the avoidance of vital risks”. Dozens of people died in 2020 in the establishment where the elderly person is housed.

Javier Fraga Mandián specifies, however, that his decision does not apply to all residents of the retirement home, located in the northeast of the country. In Spain as in France, only volunteers can receive an injection.

A controversial vaccine on the other side of the Pyrenees

Spaniards are generally not resistant to vaccination. But they do not overwhelmingly support the vaccine campaign launched at the end of December to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, which has already killed more than 52,000 in the country.

According to a Ipsos Global Advisor study conducted in 15 states, 62% of Spaniards are willing to be vaccinated. It is always more than in France. By comparison, eight out of ten Chinese are ready to receive a dose of the vaccine.