Tag: mandatory vaccination

NIH Director on FL: In My Opinion, Not Having Vax Mandates Seems Best

On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya commented on Florida moving to scrap vaccine mandates by stating that he’s not speaking for the administration, but not having mandates “seems to be the better approach” and “The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one.”

Bhattacharya said, “I’m not sure exactly what — the administration yet has a take on this, but I’ll tell you, Rob, if you look in the U.K., if you look in Sweden, you look in Denmark, none of them have vaccine mandates for any of their vaccines. All of the vaccines are voluntary in those places. What they do have is public health that doesn’t lie to their people. And so, you have amazing vaccine uptake for vaccines like MMR in all of those places, without vaccine mandates, without violating bodily autonomy of people, because public health has the trust of the people because they’re trustworthy. The problem in the United States has been, public health hasn’t been trustworthy, especially during COVID, you saw a lot of, like, exaggerations about the vaccine’s — the COVID vaccine’s ability to stop you from getting and spreading COVID, for instance, and the mandates, they just deepen the distrust. The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one. And, as I said, like in Europe, you have a very, very different strategy and they have better results than we do on uptake of essential vaccines like the MMR.”

He added, “They’re not coercing people. What they’re doing, they’re reasoning with people. I find that approach quite attractive. I’m not making an announcement as far as the administration is concerned. I’m just telling you my point of view as an epidemiologist and scientist, that that seems to be the better approach to public health, talk to people, talk to them about the data, what the data actually show and don’t show, be honest about what — when there are problems, and then, treat people like adults, especially parents, to help them make good decisions for their families.”

Keep reading

DeSantis and Ladapo aim to make Florida first in US to end all vaccine mandates

Florida is set to push for an end to all state vaccine mandates, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a news conference Wednesday.

For decades, the state has required numerous vaccines for kids attending school, a list that today includes shots that protect against measles-mumps-rubella, polio, chickenpox and hepatitis B.

But Ladapo on Wednesday compared these mandates to “slavery,” and promised that they all will soon end.

“All of them. Every last one of them,” Ladapo said to raucous cheers from the crowd assembled at the Grace Christian School in Valrico. “Who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?”

Dr. Nancy Silva, a Wesley Chapel pediatrician, said ending the vaccine mandates for schoolchildren will endanger their health and bring back diseases with life-threatening health complications that most parents of school-age children have never faced.

She questioned why the DeSantis administration would make vaccines an issue when school mandates have proven effective at eradicating and minimizing the spread of childhood diseases.

“I hope parents understand the great wonder of vaccines and how they have saved millions of lives over the decades.”

Immunizations have saved at least 154 million lives in the last 50 years, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of the lives saved were infants.

All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have laws requiring certain vaccines for students to attend school. Florida is the first state to publicly call for doing away with such requirements.

Keep reading

‘Right This Wrong’: GRACE Act Would Strip Federal Funding From Schools That Ban Religious Exemptions

A member of the U.S. Congress has drafted legislation that would strip federal funding from schools that don’t allow parents to apply for religious exemptions from vaccination requirements for their children.

The GRACE Act, or Guaranteeing Religious Accommodation in Childhood Education Act, drafted by Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), would target elementary and secondary schools, as well as local and state educational agencies.

The legislation would not require state authorities or educational institutions to offer religious exemptions, but it would deny federal funds to those entities if they maintain vaccine mandates that don’t include provisions for religious exemptions.

“The denial of religious exemptions to families and children is un-American and unconstitutional,” said Michael Kane, CHD’s director of advocacy and founder of Teachers for Choice. “CHD and I thank Rep. Steube for putting forth this important legislation to right this wrong that is a clear violation of the First Amendment.”

The GRACE Act is a response to the “alarming erosion of civil rights” that occurred under the Biden administration, said Cait Corrigan, a former congressional candidate from New York and an advocate for medical freedom and religious liberty.

“This issue is one of religious freedom, individual liberty and parental rights, which I often describe as part of a broader response to years of increasing concern,” Corrigan said.

Steube’s office did not respond by deadline to The Defender’s request for comment on the legislation.

‘A matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family’

Corrigan said the proposed legislation is “not just an issue of policy” but “a matter of conscience, faith and the fundamental dignity of every family in this country.”

Keep reading

Federal court dismisses case against LA school Covid shot mandate

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Covid-19 vaccine mandate for employees.

The case was brought in 2021 by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and   California Educators for Medical Freedom on behalf of school employees. More than 1,000 employees lost their jobs after refusing Covid shots. Plaintiffs argued the mandate violated their right to refuse unwanted medical treatment, especially since the shots did not prevent transmission.

The US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in an 11-judge “en banc” decision, ruled that LAUSD had the authority to require Covid vaccination in 2021. At the time, public health authorities, including the CDC, were advising that the shots would protect public health.

Several judges dissented, warning the decision comes “perilously close” to allowing the government to mandate medical treatments “so long as it asserts — even if incorrectly — that it would promote public health and safety.”

The majority opinion relied on the 1905 Supreme Court case Jacobson v. Massachusetts, which upheld a smallpox vaccine mandate. The dissenting judges said Jacobson applies only to vaccines that stop disease transmission, which plaintiffs argued Covid shots do not do.

LAUSD ended its employee vaccine mandate in September 2023. However, plaintiffs say they still suffer harm, including lost wages and career damage, and warn the policy could return. They are considering an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

“This ruling should terrify every American because the court is essentially saying it doesn’t matter whether or not health authorities lie, it doesn’t matter whether or not vaccines actually have a public health impact. All that matters is that someone is afraid and tells you that this is the right way to address the problem, and then you have to comply.”
— Leslie Manookian, Health Freedom Defense Fund

Keep reading

Biden-Era COVID Vaccine Mandate Records Erased in Donald Trump Rollback

The Trump administration has directed all federal agencies to delete records related to employees’ COVID-19 vaccination status, any noted noncompliance with pandemic-era mandates, and requests for vaccine exemptions.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued the directive Friday in a memo to department and agency heads, instructing them to eliminate both physical and electronic vaccine-related records from personnel files.

The policy change takes effect immediately.

Keep reading

How to Mount a Religious Liberty Challenge to a Childhood Vaccine Mandate

In 2024, IT specialist Lisa Domski was awarded $12.7 million in a religious discrimination lawsuit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. The health company had fired her for refusing a Covid-19 vaccine that was developed using aborted fetal cell lines—to which she objected as a Catholic. 

Domski’s case isn’t unique. Hers is one of at least five major lawsuits pitting vaccine mandates against religious liberty in recent years.

Most Americans might assume that the religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment would extend to vaccines given to both adults and children. Most states do recognize such a right, but California, Connecticut, Maine, New York, and West Virginia do not.

Should they? With ever-growing public concern about vaccine mandates, it’s only a matter of time before this question reaches the Supreme Court. 

The Court has never ruled directly on the question of religious liberty and vaccine mandates, but it has dealt with mandates. Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905) involved an adult man, Henning Jacobson of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The city, following a state statute, had mandated the smallpox vaccine during an epidemic and had fined Jacobson five dollars for failing to comply. He argued that his state’s mandate violated his right to individual liberty under the 14th Amendment.

The Supreme Court disagreed with Mr. Jacobson. It ruled 7-2 that states have broad authority under their police powers to enact public health measures, including compulsory vaccinations, when necessary to protect the community. 

In Zucht v. King (1922), the Supreme Court ruled that schools could mandate vaccines. In Cantwell (1940), however, the Court found that states needed to have a compelling state interest to restrict religious freedom. Half a century later, Smith (1990) lowered the bar for states to overrule religious liberty claims. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act (1993) partially rebalanced the scales. And recent Court decisions suggest that the Court may soon send Smith to the recycle bin.

None of these cases, however, involved a potential conflict between religious liberty and a vaccine mandate. So, these questions remain: If presented with the issue, should the Supreme Court require that state laws recognize religious liberty objections to vaccine mandates? And if so, under what conditions?

I’m neither a legal scholar nor a prophet, so I won’t venture a prediction about how the Court would rule. Still, the Court should recognize the legitimacy of at least some religious liberty objections to vaccine mandates. This is true even if one believes the seven-vote majority decided correctly in 1905 that states could mandate the smallpox vaccine.

Such mandates always involve crucial questions of fact. In Jacobson, the Court took for granted several of what it viewed as facts: (1) Smallpox vaccines, they assumed, had a long history of immunizing recipients against a highly infectious and deadly disease. (2) There were few alternative treatments for the infected. (3) The cost of refusing the Massachusetts mandate—a small fine—was not all that burdensome. (4) The risk of the vaccine itself was quite low. (5) Finally, they assumed, such a mandate was needed for public safety. 

Given all this, they rejected his appeal to personal liberty.

Keep reading

Doctor Speaks Out After DOJ Drops Charges for Helping Patients Avoid COVID Mandates

Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, a Utah plastic surgeon who was indicted in 2023 for allegedly destroying government-provided COVID vaccines, issuing fake vaccination cards, and administering saline shots to patients who wished to get around mandates, spoke out in front of the Supreme Court after his charges were dropped.

Joining other speakers Sunday on the fifth anniversary of the 2020 “White Coat Summit,” where experts Dr. Simone Gold and Dr. Stella Immanuel led America’s Frontline Doctors in a public outcry against COVID-related tyranny, Moore thanked those who supported him and slammed Big Pharma. 

“I stand here before you, not because I was seeking attention, but because I refused to abandon my oath,” the Utah doctor told the crowd. “My story just isn’t my own. It’s a warning shot, a rally cry, and a living testament to what happens when medicine and morality collide with government overreach.”

Moore went on to thank U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) for standing up for him “when it mattered the most.”

Bondi announced that her Justice Department dismissed the charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to dispose of government property, in a July 12 social media post.

Keep reading

Judge rules against Seattle employees fired for religious refusal of COVID vax

King County Superior Court Judge Tanya L. Thorp has ruled in favor of the City of Seattle in a high-profile lawsuit brought by dozens of former city employees who were terminated after refusing to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Thorp ruled that none of them had sincerely held religious beliefs when they objected to the vaccine mandate. She said their beliefs are “secular cloaked in religious vernacular,” and that prayer is not a reasonable manner for decision making.

In her ruling, Thorp agreed with arguments presented by the city’s outside counsel, Seyfarth Shaw LLP, granting a motion for summary judgment on most of the plaintiffs’ claims. The employees from City Light (SCL), the Seattle Police Department (SPD), Seattle Public Utilities (SPU), Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), and the city’s Finance/Admin department (FAS) had alleged violations of Washington’s Law Against Discrimination (WLAD), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, failure to accommodate religious beliefs and wrongful termination.

In court documents obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, the City argued that the plaintiffs did not demonstrate a bona fide religious belief that conflicted with the vaccine mandate. Thorp said that their objections were “secular concerns cloaked in religious vernacular.”

The city further argued that prayer alone does not convert a personal decision into a protected religious belief, citing federal case law that distinguishes personal or medical objections from religious practices.

Keep reading

Defense Department Continues Ignoring Harms to Readiness by Pushing Flu Shots Contrary to Large Body of Evidence

After the tyrannical enforcement of the now-rescinded 2021 COVID-19 shot mandate, now determined to be “unlawful as implemented,” skepticism of all vaccines has clearly increased throughout the military community.

Sadly, some service members are facing punitive actions for objecting to the flu shot, having argued it is ineffective and detrimental to not only their health, but also their religious convictions. An anonymous Marine officer and Air Force Major Brennan Schilperoort share a similar moral and religious objection to the shot, while also suffering adverse effects from a previous injection. Additionally, both officers have also shown natural immunity.

Rather than recognizing their Constitutionally protected religious rights to substantiate their objection, the military has decided to separate both individuals from service. Although Maj. Schilperoort’s pay was restored by the Air Force, it must be noted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is aware of their situation, but has thus far remained silent on the issue of separation over the flu shot.

The Gateway Pundit spoke to independent journalist Jeremy Hammond, whose articles about the flu shot have elicited high praise from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

For Hammond, “The coerced vaccination of military service members is yet another unfortunate example of how the government systematically violates individuals’ right to informed consent.” He explained, “This policy exists despite scientific evidence indicating that getting an annual flu shot can actually increase the risk of influenza illness.”

A Cleveland Clinic study of their 54,402 employees during the 2024-2025 flu season found the flu shot was not effective in preventing the transmission of the respiratory illness. Results of the study can be found at MedRxiv, pronounced “med-archive,” an online platform used to share “preprints” in the medical, clinical, and health science fields.

The manuscript is a preprint, meaning it has not been peer-reviewed. Thus, “it reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice,” according to the site.

While some might question the validity and reliability of the research as a result, preprints are also known to allow for quicker dissemination of research, provide opportunities for feedback from the scientific community, or could simply be considered an early version of the research manuscript.

With these parameters in place to consider, the study found “in an analysis adjusted for age, sex, clinical nursing job, and employment location, the risk of influenza was significantly higher for the vaccinated compared to the unvaccinated state, yielding a calculated vaccine effectiveness of −26.9%” [emphasis added]. Therefore, based on this data, it can be stated vaccinated individuals were 27 percent more likely to get the flu.

Keep reading

New York Teachers Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccines Take Case to U.S. Supreme Court

A group of 19 teachers who sued the city of New York after they were denied religious exemptions from COVID-19 vaccine mandates are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review lower court rulings, which they allege unconstitutionally favored some religious beliefs over others.

In a petition filed Monday, the teachers allege that New York City granted religious exemptions only to people who belonged to religions whose leaders had not publicly endorsed COVID-19 vaccination.

The city denied requests by teachers who applied for exemptions based on personal religious beliefs that contradicted their religious leaders’ official support of the vaccines, the appeal said.

Michael Kane, a plaintiff in the case and founder of Teachers for Choice, said:

“What New York City did was so egregious. To allow this to stand sets a horrendous precedent for my children and grandchildren. The discrimination was so intense and constitutionally shoddy it must not be permitted.”

According to Kane, most of the teachers are “still out of work or doing odd jobs, making half their previous income.”

Although New York City Mayor Eric Adams rescinded the mandate in February 2023, the city didn’t rehire the teachers.

The case stems from two lawsuits filed in 2021 challenging New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and its denials of the religious exemption requests: Kane v. de Blasio and Keil v. City of New York. Children’s Health Defense is supporting the combined lawsuit.

Several lower courts, including the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2024, ruled against the teachers.

The New York City Department of Education, its Chancellor, Melissa Aviles-Ramos, and New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan are among the defendants named in the combined lawsuit.

Keep reading