Federal Social Court: Vaccination injury can be a work accident in special cases
In a dispute, the issue is about a swine flu vaccine in the year 2009. The judges in Kassel emphasized that the then new and unknown virus caused great concerns in the public as well as among virologists. However, these fears did not materialize in the end.
In 2009, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic situation. In October 2009, the Permanent Vaccination Commission issued a "special recommendation" for the vaccination of employees in healthcare facilities.
The plaintiff is the manager of a hospital canteen in Rhineland-Palatinate and participated in an impfing organized by the hospital in November 2009. In 2014, fever episodes occurred, which he attributed to the vaccination.
The Workers' Compensation Board rejected the recognition of a work accident, and the Labor Court and the Higher Labor Court confirmed this. The plaintiff was not legally required to be vaccinated, it was stated.
However, such a duty is also not necessary, ruled the Federal Social Court. "A vaccination that is carried out in an orderly and voluntary manner can also be an accidental event if it leads to a vaccination complication and a health impairment."
However, it is not sufficient if the employer organized and financed the vaccination. The necessary "internal connection" with the work is only given if the participation in the vaccination serves essential business purposes and the employee could assume that his employer expected participation in the vaccination.
According to these guidelines, the Labor Court in Mainz must now examine whether there is a sufficient "internal connection" between the work and the vaccination participation. If so, it must also clarify whether the fever episodes that occurred four years later were actually caused by the vaccination.
- The Federal Social Court in Kassel noted that the Swine flu virus caused widespread fear in 2009, both among the public and among virologists.
- The World Health Organization declared a pandemic situation in 2009, leading to a special recommendation from the Permanent Vaccination Commission for the vaccination of healthcare employees.
- In this context, the manager of a hospital canteen in Rhineland-Palatinate participated in a vaccination organized by the hospital, which he later attributed to his fever episodes in 2014.
- However, the Federal Social Court ruled that the employer's organization and financing of the vaccination alone is not sufficient to establish a "internal connection" with work, unless the employee's participation serves essential business purposes and he assumes his employer expects it.
- The Federal Social Court also stated that a voluntary vaccination can be considered an accidental event if it leads to vaccination complications and health impairments.
- Therefore, the Labor Court in Mainz must now examine if there is a sufficient "internal connection" between the work and the vaccination participation, and if the fever episodes were indeed caused by the vaccination, as per the guidelines set by the Federal Social Court and the STIKO (German Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines).
