Judge removes father’s custody rights to his children over refusal to get vaccinated

After refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a father has reportedly lost the right to see his kids in person, one of whom is immunocompromised. The Canadian Press reports a judge in New Brunswick, Justice Nathalie Godbout, wrote in her Jan. 31 decision the revoking of the father’s custody rights was done “with a heavy heart,” but he can still be in contact with his children by use of phone calls or video chats.

Godbout made her decision, she says, because the father’s insistence he remains unvaccinated posed too great a threat and risk to his 10-year-old immunocompromised daughter, who receives specialized care for non-cancerous tumors in her blood vessels.

“Someone who is immunocompromised has a weakened immune system that does not respond properly to invading infections or pathogens. Meaning your body cannot fight off things like the coronavirus as well as a person with a fully functioning immune system,” explains the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation.

According to CBC, Their mother asked the court for a change to the custody agreement ending the father’s in-person access. She applied to the court last year and the hearing took place on Jan. 24.

“As the parents who are caring for [the child] 50 percent of the time, in close quarters, unmasked and unvaccinated, they are well-positioned to transmit the virus to [the child] should they contract it, this despite their best efforts,” the ruling says.

“It is no contest: the current science in the face of a highly contagious virus far outweighs Mr. F.’s layman wait-and-see approach.”  The parents and the children are not named in the 26-page court ruling.

They are only identified by initials. The new order allows the father “generous” visiting rights via Zoom but no in-person contact. If he gets vaccinated, he can return to court to ask for a change to the decision. While waiting for the hearing, the father also refused to consent to the children being vaccinated after they became eligible last November. Godbout ruled the mother could get that done without his agreement.