For those of you who don't know what the Court of Protection is, it is a court that makes decisions on behalf of individuals who don't have capacity to make the decisions themselves. The decision must be in the best interests of the person lacking capacity. 

A recent case has explored whether an 80-year-old lady, in a care home with dementia and schizophrenia, should be vaccinated against Covid-19 despite objections from her son. This lady had been assessed as lacking capacity to understand the risks of Covid-19 and was not able to weigh up the pros and cons of having the vaccine. 

The judge concluded that the lady should be offered the vaccine. He came to this decision by taking into consideration her past views towards being vaccinated before she lost capacity, statements she had made to her GP showing that she trusted her medical professionals and the risk to this lady if she was to contract Covid-19. The care home where this lady lived had recently had a Covid-19 outbreak and this was, therefore, an urgent decision that needed to be made. 

I was pleased to see the reasoning that the judge gave when making his decision. He took all of this lady's circumstances into consideration, including her behaviour towards vaccinations when she had capacity. 

I would not be surprised if the Court of Protection receives many more applications similar to this where there has been a dispute in relation to a person who lacks capacity receiving the vaccine.