Law Archives – Page 2 of 18

2021-08-122021-08-12

Indiana University vaccine mandate upheld by Federal court

This article about the Indiana University vaccine mandate was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

Professor Reiss writes extensively in law journals about the social and legal policies of vaccination. Additionally, Reiss is also a member of the Parent Advisory Board of Voices for Vaccines, a parent-led organization that supports and advocates for on-time vaccination and the reduction of vaccine-preventable disease. She is also a member of the Vaccines Working Group on Ethics and Policy.

On June 21, 2021, eight students, represented by attorney James Bopp Jr., filed a complaint challenging the Indiana University vaccine mandate. On July 18, 2021, Judge Damon R. Leichty, from the federal district court for the Northern District of Indiana, appointed to the court by President Donald Trump, rejected the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction in a lengthy, thoughtful decision that made it clear the plaintiffs’ chances of success on the merits are very low.

The decision is important in setting the standard for reviewing constitutional claims against university mandates, in making it clear that a reasonable university mandate has a good chance to be upheld, but that public health authorities – or universities – do not have carte blanche to impose any requirements they want, but can legitimately act to prevent disease and improve safety. It thoroughly and intelligently addresses the scientific claims of the plaintiffs – and the approach to them. It examines the difference between a general challenge and a challenge based on a fundamental right like freedom of religion.

It does not substantially add to the discussion of whether universities can mandate a vaccine under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA); though it does address the facts of the EUA, it does not go into the legal arguments about the EUA law that were addressed in a decision against a Texas hospital. Nor does it directly confront the Indiana passport law, likely because the university changed in mandate in a way that, according to the attorney general, did not clash with it.

Finally, the decision was 101 pages. I cannot summarize all of it in a reasonable-length post, so this has to be a short summary of what I think are the main points. But it’s worth reading. There is a lot of thoughtful, in-depth analysis in it I just don’t have space for.

2021-08-102021-08-10

Anti-vaccine Dr. Bob Zajac is disciplined by Minnesota Medical Board

This article about the Minnesota Medical Board discipline of anti-vaccine physician Bob Zajac was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

2021-08-092021-08-09

Norwegian Cruise Lines vaccine passports – judge prevents Florida from blocking it

This article about Norwegian Cruise Lines vaccine passports in Florida was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

On July 13, 2021, Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings LTD. (NCLH) sued Scott Rivkees, State Surgeon General and Head of the Florida Department of Health, challenging a Florida law that bans businesses from requiring vaccine passports. The lawsuit is in a very early stage but is well written and argued. Several of the arguments are specific to the cruise industry, but at least one would apply to any business.

2021-08-082021-08-08

Vaccines mandates, religion, and the law – Cait Corrigan edition

This article about vaccines mandates, religion, and the law was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

As vaccines mandates spread around the United States in response to the virus, there is naturally those who are unhappy. Committed anti-vaccine activists are, unsurprisingly, less happy than most, and driven to express their unhappiness in a variety of forums and a variety of ways including employing religion.

In one example, a relative newcomer on the anti-vaccine scene, student Cait Corrigan, has written a complaint to her former college, challenging their vaccines mandate, after she was removed from their Facebook group for offering to help people game exemptions based on religion.

By itself, this is not particularly important; the complaint is unlikely to go very far, and the college’s legal advisor would likely be able to point to the college’s authorities its many flaws (and the one point that the complaint is right about, and that the college should correct). But the complaint provides an opportunity to examine several arguments anti-vaccine activists make in other forums and address the way anti-vaccine activists build arguments.

2021-07-302021-07-30

COVID vaccine mandates update – what a week of news

This article, which is an update about COVID-19 vaccine mandates, was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

It has been an intense week for the discussion of COVID vaccine mandates, and a lot has happened. This post is simply a very short overview of developments. So here is what is going on this week.

2021-07-232021-07-23

America’s Frontline Doctors anti-vaccine affidavit – expert analysis

This article, about America’s Frontline Doctors anonymous anti-vaccine affidavit, was written by Kelsey S Hollenback, a Ph.D. student in Systems & Information Engineering at the Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems, Department of Engineering Systems and Environment, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Virginia.

On reviewing America’s Frontline Doctors anonymous affidavit, part of a recent lawsuit over the COVID-19 vaccines, my first and most important takeaway is that, while Jane Doe apparently wishes to assert that she has discovered excess mortality associated with COVID-19 vaccines, what she describes in her affidavit bears absolutely no resemblance to how to conduct an actual such analysis. Not even a little bit.

My second takeaway, which almost doesn’t matter given the first, is that, insofar as it’s possible to determine the methodology she used from the extremely limited description provided, that methodology is…flawed.

Flawed in what ways? It counted more deaths associated with a COVID-19 vaccine than there are total deaths recorded in VAERS. It doesn’t account for differences between the CMS patient population and the general population. Depending on what criteria Jane Doe used to query the CMS claims database, she may have pulled patients receiving any vaccine, not just the COVID-19 vaccine; she may have pulled only patients receiving Moderna, or only Pfizer, or only Johnson & Johnson; she may have failed to pull patients receiving a no-cost or government-provided vaccine; and/or she may have oversampled patients at higher risk generally for all-cause mortality.

My third and final takeaway is that, while America’s Frontline Doctors affidavit does not in any way describe either a valid method for identifying excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 vaccine, doesn’t do anything at all to establish causality, and certainly doesn’t expose any cover-up, it does possibly reveal a serious HIPAA violation.

2021-07-182021-07-18

Vaccine passports – Norwegian Cruise Line sues the state of Florida

This article about blocking vaccine passports in Florida was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

On July 13, 2021, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings LTD. (NCLH) sued Scott Rivkees, State Surgeon General and Head of the Florida Department of Health, challenging a Florida law that bans businesses from requiring vaccine passports. The lawsuit is in very early stage, but is well written and argued. Several of the arguments are specific to the cruise industry, but at least one would apply to any business.

2021-06-132021-06-13

Hospital COVID vaccine mandate – Texas Federal District court rejects challenge

This article about a Texas Federal District Court that rejected a challenge to a hospital COVID vaccine mandate was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

On June 12, 2021 (yes, a Saturday), a Texas federal district judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by employees of the Houston Methodist Hospital against the hospital’s COVID vaccine mandate which required employees to be vaccinated unless they qualify for a medical or religious exemption.

I wrote about the lawsuit here. It is a badly argued lawsuit, with multiple extreme claims, and it does a bad job in setting out the one somewhat plausible argument it has, the argument that you cannot mandate a vaccine under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).

2021-05-122021-05-12

COVID-19 vaccine parental consent – do teens need it before Pfizer vaccine?

This article about COVID-19 vaccine parental consent was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

On May 10, 2021, the FDA authorized Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 for emergency use in teens aged 12-15. Even before that, the vaccine was authorized in teens 16 and up. This raises a question that has been coming up occasionally – if teens in this age group want to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but their parents object, can they do it without parental consent? The short answer is that it depends.

2021-04-282021-04-28

Connecticut repeals vaccine religious exemption to school mandates

This article, the Connecticut legislature repeals the vaccine religious exemption for school mandates, was written by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA), who is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually stimulating, articles about vaccines, medical issues, social policy, and the law.

On April 27, 2021, the Connecticut legislature passed HB6423, a bill that repeals the religious exemption to Connecticut’s school vaccine mandate. Connecticut never had a personal belief exemption, so if the Governor signed it – and he indicated he will – the only exemption available in Connecticut will be a medical one.

That said, as part of the compromises to pass the bill, children currently in school, from kindergarten on, were grandfathered – allowed to keep the exemption.

This post addresses, together, three things:

First, the process to pass a bill in most states is hard and arduous, and most bills fail.
Second, the anti-vaccine movement fought aggressively against the bill, and the fight was national.
And third, what the bill does.