A challenge of Western University’s COVID-19 booster dose mandate by five students has been dismissed by a Ontario Superior Court..The written decision, delivered by Ontario Superior Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli, said that the University was within its power to enact the COVID-19 booster mandate. She added that the decision to collect personal health data from students and staff is necessary to administer the policy..For nearly a month, Western University students have been protesting the school's booster mandate, which declares that students must show proof of three COVID-19 vaccine doses to attend. The university recently announced that students will have until ealry 2023 to provide proof of vaccination, a decision that failed to placate those opposed to the policy..The students’ case hinged on the legal interpretation of a provincial privacy statute, and not on whether Western’s booster mandate violated the Charter rights of staff and students..Lisa Bildy, the lawyer for the five students, argued in court that the university wasn’t authorized to collect personal health information on vaccination status, as the regulation under the Reopening Ontario Act requiring post-secondary institutions to implement mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies has been repealed..READ MORE: Western students sue university for COVID-19 booster policy.The students claimed Western lacked authority to collect the data under Ontario’s Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act and an exception built into the act for personal information that is “necessary to the proper administration of a lawfully authorized activity” does not apply..Western University's counsel argued the school has broad powers under the University of Western Ontario Act, the provincial legislation governing the school. They added that implementing a COVID-19 vaccination policy is a “lawfully authorized activity.”.In her decision, Justice Tranquilli sided with Western’s lawyers. “Based upon the broad wording of Western’s enabling statute, and the process that Western followed in promulgating its COVID-19 Vaccination Policy, I am satisfied the university has demonstrated that the policy is a ‘lawfully authorized activity,’” the decision reads..Justice Tranquilli said collecting personal health information on COVID-19 vaccination status from students and staff is the only way the university can properly implement its immunization policy. “While compliance with a face-masking policy is easily detectable, this is not the case with vaccination status,” the decision said..“That the province no longer requires Western to impose a vaccine mandate, or that Western is reportedly the only university in Ontario to impose such a mandate, is of no consequence. Western is expressly permitted to govern its affairs," the justice said..The University of Toronto requires students living in resident to have at least three COVID-19 vaccines. The US schools of Yale and Harvard have similar vaccine policies.
