Man who claims Covid vaccine made from ‘aborted foetuses’ loses case against gym

Mr Paul Taaffe told the hearing that he wasn’t vaccinated because he believes vaccines are made from aborted foetuses which are dissected in a satanic manner and didn’t wish to put something like that in his body.

He said he was a Catholic but didn’t take guidance from the Church.

He felt that he had been discriminated against because of his medical status.

Mr Taaffe had gone to the gym at DkIT Sport on December 16, 2021, and had been told that he needed to show his Covid vaccine cert to train that day.

He spoke with the manager Mr Kyle McGee who confirmed that he wouldn’t be let in without a Covid cert.

He was upset as he wasn’t able to train that day which he feels is very important for maintaining his health.

He had paid his gym membership at the start of December and wasn’t alerted to any potential of refund.

He was not on notice of the vaccine requirement.

While he accepted that the gym was implementing a policy required by legislation, he took the view that this legislation was unconstitutional.

When questioned as what the matter had to do with his religion, he said that he was a Catholic but didn’t take guidance from the Church.

The respondents in the case said that they followed the public health guidance and laws for the period that they applied.

For approximately seven weeks in late 2021 to early 2022, they were required to only allow persons with the appropriate vaccine certificates attend the gym.

Customers who didn’t have a vaccine certificate were invited to freeze their membership for that period or get refunded for the months they could not train.

There were notices outside the door and on Facebook.

They considered the complainant’s claim frivolous and vexatious.

The Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer said that while the complainant is a Catholic he had not drawn his attention to any prohibition on Catholics attending the gym that day nor to any comparator of a different or no religion who was allowed to attend when the Complainant was refused.

“He instead advanced a case, totally without any medical evidence, that the Covid-19 vaccine was made from dissected foetuses and was satanic.

"As a result of this belief, the Complainant felt taking the vaccine would incompatible with his religion.”

Dismissing Mr Taaffe’s claim, the WRC officer said “While I believe that this feeling was genuinely held that does not make it factual or inherently related to the Complainant’s Catholicism. As such I do not see how it can form the basis for a case of religious discrimination.”