Quebec mom loses appeal to prevent kids, aged six and eight, from getting COVID-19 vaccine

A Quebec mother has lost an appeal to prevent her two young children from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine after a judge dismissed her claims that vaccination was not necessary and more research was needed on their potential side effects.

The mother of the two children, six and eight years old, had sought to overturn a Superior Court decision authorizing the kids to get vaccinated by accusing the trial judge of “demonstrating bias in favour of vaccination.”

In her arguments to the appeal court, the mother, whose name was not published in order to protect her kids’ identities, had also argued that her kids were healthy, the vaccines were not necessary to prevent infection, and that the court should respect her concerns that the potential side effects of the two doses “have not been fully documented.”

She asked the Court of Appeal to stay the authorization granted on Feb. 8 by the Superior Court that allowed the kids’ father to get them their shots. The trial judge granted the father’s request despite the launch of the appeal, citing the need to get vaccinated quickly and the delay that needs to be observed between doses.

In a ruling issued on Feb. 23, Appeal Court Justice Simon Ruel said the mother “has not demonstrated the existence of an apparent weakness that could justify the granting of the stay.”