Three hundred healthcare workers in Italy have lodged a legal challenge against the requirement that they get vaccinated against coronavirus, according to media reports.

The case, brought by professionals throughout northern Italy, will be heard on July 14, Reuters reports.

“This isn't a battle by anti-vaxxers but a democratic battle,” constitutional lawyer Daniele Granara, who helped build up the case, was cited as saying in the Giornale di Brescia newspaper.

“We force people to take a risk under threat of no longer being allowed to exercise their profession,” he added. Granara is also defending dozens of caregivers who have been suspended from work for refusing to be vaccinated.