School can't be sued after child received COVID vax against parents' wishes, court rules
by KRISTINA WATROBSKI | Crisis in the Classroom | Mon, July 29th 2024 at 3:04 PM
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (CITC) — The Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday a family cannot sue their child's school district after the then-6-year-old was given a COVID-19 vaccine without their consent.
The child, labeled L.P. in the original complaint, was vaccinated at a November 2021 clinic hosted by the Windham Southeast School District and the Vermont Department of Health. L.P. was a student at the district's Academy School at the time.
L.P.'s father told a school official days prior to the clinic the child was not to be vaccinated, court documents say. The school official acknowledged the father's directive, according to Friday's ruling.
Clinic workers gave L.P. one dose of the Pfizer vaccine after the child was mistakenly given a name tag reading the name of another student, according to the ruling. The second student had allegedly already received a vaccination earlier that day.
L.P. 'verbally protested,' saying, 'Dad said no,'" the ruling reads.
Academy School officials eventually realized the error and called L.P.'s parents to apologize, who later removed their child from the school, according to the ruling.
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday state and school officials involved in the matter are protected under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, which provides liability immunity. In the event of a public health emergency, the PREP Act ensures certain "covered persons" are immune from claims causally related to the use of a "covered countermeasure." A vaccine is considered a covered countermeasure.
"To avoid dismissal on immunity grounds, plaintiffs would have had to present wellpleaded allegations showing that (1) at least one defendant was not a covered person, (2) some conduct by a defendant was not causally related to administering a covered countermeasure, (3) the substance injected into L.P. was not a covered countermeasure, or (4) there was no PREP Act declaration in effect at the time L.P. was injected," the ruling reads.
The high court's ruling affirms a January 2023 decision by a state superior court.
Windham Southeast Superintendent Mark Speno apologized for the incident in a November 2021 letter to families, according to the Bennington Banner.
"Thankfully, we are not aware of any harm to the student because of this mistake," the letter reportedly read. "We take our responsibilities to students and families very seriously, and we respect parents’ rights to make health care decisions for their children.”
Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) reached out to both Speno and an attorney for L.P.'s family for comment, but has not received responses. This story will be updated if responses are received.
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