Daniel was forced to have a Covid jab to keep his job. Then he fell gravely ill. Now he has secured a HUGE legal victory
A civil servant who was forced to get a Covid vaccination to keep his job but then became seriously ill has won a major legal battle and will receive compensation.
Daniel Shepherd, 44, received two Covid-19 vaccinations when he was a youth worker at Baptist Care South Australia in 2021 and suffered side effects to the jab.
The father-of-one started a new job with the Department for Child Protection (DCP) on October 19 that year, but was told on January 28, 2022 that he needed to get a booster shot to keep his job as a child and youth worker.
Mr Sheperd received a Pfizer mRNA jab on February 24, 2022, but a day later he developed severe chest pain.
The pain continued to worsen until March 11, when he thought he was having a heart attack and was rushed to Ashford Hospital in Adelaide. There he was diagnosed with post-vaccine pericarditis – an inflammation of the membrane surrounding the heart.
A civil servant who was forced to get a Covid vaccination to keep his job but then fell seriously ill has won a major legal victory involving compensation and payment of medical bills. A man is shown receiving a vaccination against Covid-19
The illness limited Mr. Shepherd’s ability to work in a part-time administrative capacity for only a few months.
DCP acknowledged that the pericarditis was caused by Pfizer’s mRNA booster injection, but it denied liability for workers’ compensation, saying it was a statutory government directive and therefore excluded under the SA Emergency Management Act.
But Judge Mark Calligeros, the vice-president of the SA Employment Tribunal, rejected the DCP’s arguments.
“It is not surprising that some people who receive a dose of Covid-19 vaccine suffer injury as a result,” he wrote in his judgment.
‘It would be astonishing if Parliament meant that a State employee, who was injured while complying with a directive of the EM (Emergency Management) Act, would be excluded from receiving workers’ compensation.
“I am not convinced that the Legislature intended to deny compensation to state employees injured while complying with a vaccination mandate designed to protect the health and well-being of citizens.”
Judge Calligeros added that Mr Shepherd needed to be vaccinated to continue working in healthcare.
This was ‘because (the state) wanted to protect and reduce the risk of infection to the public and the general public, and to members of the public receiving health care services in particular.
Mr Shepherd was rushed to Adelaide’s Ashford Hospital (pictured) where he was diagnosed with post-vaccine pericarditis
“It would be ironic and unjust if Mr. Shepherd were to be denied financial and medical support by acceding to the state’s desire to protect public health.”
In a landmark ruling, the judge ordered that Mr Shepherd be given weekly income support and payment of medical costs.
The ruling came despite SA Health still enforcing a mandatory Covid vaccination policy for some employees, even as similar policies have been scrapped in other states.