The dance teacher and owner of the CoraSon dance school in Utrech, Peter Vlug, decided only to open his classes to people with a vaccination certificate.
A heated debate about the legality of that decision has followed, and Vlug has been subject to a number of intimidating behaviours, reports the NOS.
Anonymous calls and insults
On the Facebook page of CoraSol, Vlug received hundreds of reactions to his decision. A few days ago, Vlug announced on Facebook that he’d had to disable visitor comments on the page because of the “flood of nasty messages” he’d received there. However, he also heard from people who supported the demand for vaccination certificates.
In addition to the Facebook messages, Vlug has been called “a son of Hitler” and received a phone call from a stranger telling him that he’d risk facing the death penalty for his actions.
Also, Twitter is brimming over with reactions to Peter Vlug:
Stands by his decision
Despite the intimidation, Vlug told the NOS that he is responsible for creating a safe dance environment for his students. His dance school doesn’t accept a recovery certificate or negative test results after the mixups that occurred during previous rounds of government relaxations. Vlug doesn’t trust coronavirus tests to be accurate enough to create such an environment.
In fact, Vlug says he’d be willing to go to court over his door policies. If it came to a lawsuit over this decision, he’d be happy to take it on as he believes it would be for a good cause.
Vlug is hoping that, if it came to a lawsuit, it would serve as an opportunity to create more clarity about measures entrepreneurs can take.
Grey area
So which measures can entrepreneurs in the Netherlands legally take at this moment? Well, that’s…unclear.
According to Martin Buijsen, professor of health law at the Erasmus School of Law, there are doubts about whether shops, gyms, hairdressers, and other companies can require vaccination certificates from customers.
On one hand, an advisory report from the Dutch Health Council says that private organisations have a duty of care towards their customers or visitors. According to Buijsen this means they could ask for vaccination certificates — if there were no other alternatives.
But there are alternatives he says.
So, on the other hand, private organisations could care towards their customers by asking for test or recovery certificates. Moreover, there is no vaccination requirement in the Netherlands.
What do you think of the demand for vaccination certificates? Will the debate force greater clarity about measures in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Feature Image: edwardolive/Depositphotos
It’s not the government making the policy. If Vlug doesn’t want unvaccinated clients that should be his decision. If he wants clients to wear a mask, his choice too. It’s HIS business and if you don’t want to adhere to HIS regulations then don’t go.
His school -> His decision. Knowing that it’s a safe environment would encourage me to join.