Faafoi: Vaccination won’t be mandatory for jurors

A Covid-19 vaccination divide could cause ‘‘enormous’’ problems for the justice system in the selection of jurors, a researcher says. DrWarren Young, who has co-led juror projects, said potential jurors who were unvaccinated, or who declined to say, might be sidelined in the selection process and only considered if the court ran out of other jurors. But if that became known it could be used as away to get out of jury service. Either scenario would be a problem, he said. Justice Minister Kris Faafoi said the Governmentwas not considering making Covid vaccination mandatory for jurors. The court system is already under pressure with a backlog of cases that Covid-19 restrictions compounded. Mandateswere very strong legal requirements and their justification had to be carefully considered, Faafoi said.