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Courtesy of Novavax, Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Education Dive
Will schools mandate COVID-19 vaccine or face liability?
Nearly all states offer nonmedical exemptions to vaccination mandates,
and those will likely stay in place even if districts require
coronavirus inoculation.
Naaz Modan
July 10, 2020
As coronavirus vaccine candidates enter trials, with some of the
earliest predictions landing availability sometime early next year,
leaders are raising alarms around the possibility of parents and
children who may seek exemptions from the requirement.
"My fear is that we will get to that place where we have that
successful vaccine, but we still have the concern from many and a
mistrust," said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) during a Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing last week where
legislators and health experts discussed reopening schools. "But I'm
worried that we don't have a plan for how to deal with that."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, agreed. "It is a reality," he said during the
hearing. "A lack of trust of authority, a lack of trust in government,
and a concern about vaccines in general."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, while all
50 states have legislation requiring student vaccinations, 45 and the
District of Columbia grant religious exemptions with some variations in
implementation. In addition, 15 states allow exemptions for moral or
personal beliefs. One, Minnesota, allows for nonmedical exemptions,
leaving only 4 states — Maine, New York, West Virginia and California —
that don't allow for religious, personal or other nonmedical exemptions.
The percentage of children starting kindergarten with exemptions from
vaccination requirements has been slightly increasing over the past few
years, according to Laura Faherty, a physician policy researcher for
RAND Corp., assistant professor of pediatrics at the Boston University
School of Medicine, and affiliate faculty member at Pardee RAND
Graduate School.
"This trend is concerning because exemptions put children and their
communities at risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, as we’ve seen with
recent measles outbreaks," Faherty said, noting that as a pediatrician,
she stresses that parents and other caregivers ensure children are up
to date on recommended vaccinations, including influenza. "As we move
into the fall and winter months, the last thing we want, for kids and
for the healthcare system, is a surge of serious flu cases on top of
the expected surges in COVID-19."
Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents
Association, said he expects resistance to to vaccination requirements
will continue in the wake of COVID-19. The majority of districts, he
predicted, will mandate the COVID-19 vaccine, once available, and some
will face legal challenges.
The liability question
As the new school year approaches — with many parents, teachers and
students disagreeing on key decisions such as reopening dates and
safety requirements — legislators and educators are floating the idea
of schools potentially being held liable.
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