The Vermont Supreme Court’s recent ruling that a family cannot sue a school district after their child was vaccinated against COVID-19 without parental consent has ignited a firestorm of criticism. The court’s reliance on the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act to grant immunity to the school has been met with widespread disapproval.
In November 2021, a child at Academy School received a COVID-19 vaccine dose after mistakenly wearing another student’s name tag. This occurred despite the father’s explicit instruction to a school official that his child should not be vaccinated and the child’s own protest. The school later realized the mistake and issued an apology to the family, who subsequently withdrew their child from the school.
The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that state and school officials involved in the vaccination are protected under the PREP Act, which provides liability immunity during public health emergencies for those administering “covered countermeasures,” including vaccines.
Opponents of the ruling argue that it effectively absolves the school of responsibility for administering a vaccine without proper consent. They insist that the school must be held accountable for such significant lapses in procedure and for violating the parental right to make medical decisions for their children.
“To avoid dismissal on immunity grounds, plaintiffs would have had to present well-pleaded 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 explains.
This decision upholds a January 2023 ruling by a state superior court, leaving many parents and advocates for children’s rights deeply concerned about the precedent it sets. The case underscores the ongoing debate over the balance between public health initiatives and individual rights, particularly the rights of parents in making medical decisions for their children.
