Although vaccination status is medical information that should be protected by the confidentiality of the medical record, vaccination against COVID-19 could be an exception, believes a lawyer.
• Read also: Vaccine status unveiled: Lemay-Thivierge tackles Press for $ 1.85 M
“Basically, it is indeed true that a person’s vaccination status is medical information […] and the medical file of any person is protected by very strict rules of confidentiality ”, explains Me Patrick Martin-Ménard in an interview with TVA Nouvelles.
But due to the obligation to present the vaccination passport to access certain places and activities, the vaccination status becomes less confidential, and the vaccination passport could constitute an exception to the law.
The lawyer specifies, however, that “nothing obliges a person to disclose the fact that he is not vaccinated outside of this context”.
Even if Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge is a public figure, his medical file remains private, adds Mr.e Martin-Ménard.
“The confidentiality of the medical file is an element that applies to both public and private figures,” he said.
The question of whether the host himself disclosed his vaccination status should also be at the heart of the proceedings, according to the lawyer.
“We will also have to see in what context he himself was able to disclose or not his vaccination status publicly […] and if that consisted of a waiver of confidentiality or not, ”Mr.e Martin-Ménard.
Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge sues for $ 1,850,000 in damages against Press, who he accuses of having made public his status as unvaccinated against COVID-19.