North Carolina justices decide family can sue over unwanted COVID-19 shot
A trial judge and later the state Court of Appeals had ruled against Emily Happel and her son Tanner Smith, who at age 14 received the vaccination in August 2021 despite his protests at a testing and vaccination clinic at a Guilford County high school, according to the family's lawsuit.
Smith went to the clinic to be tested for COVID-19 after a cluster of cases occurred among his school's football team. He did not expect the clinic would be providing vaccines as well, according to the litigation. Smith told workers he didn't want a vaccination, and he lacked a signed parental consent form to get one. When the clinic was unable to reach his mother, a worker instructed another to 'give it to him anyway," Happel and Smith allege in legal briefs.
Happel and Smith sued the Guilford County Board of Education and an organization of physicians who helped operate the school clinic, alleging claims of battery and that their constitutional rights were violated.
A panel of the intermediate-level appeals court last year ruled unanimously that the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act shielded the school district and the Old North State Medical Society from liability. The law places broad protections and immunity on an array of individuals and organizations who perform 'countermeasures' during a public health emergency. A COVID-19 emergency declaration in March 2020 activated the law's immunity provisions, Friday's decision said.
Chief Justice Paul Newby, writing Friday's prevailing opinion, said that the federal law did not prevent the mother and son from suing on allegations that their rights in the state constitution had been violated. In particular, he wrote, there is the right for a parent to control their child's upbringing and the 'right of a competent person to refuse forced, nonmandatory medical treatment.'
The federal law's plain text led a majority of justices to conclude that its immunity only covers tort injuries, Newby wrote, which is when someone seeks damages for injuries caused by negligent or wrongful actions. 'Because tort injuries are not constitutional violations, the PREP Act does not bar plaintiffs' constitutional claims,' he added while sending the case back presumably for a trial on the allegations.
The court's five Republican justices backed Newby's opinion, including two who wrote a short separate opinion suggesting the immunity found in the federal law should be narrowed further.
Associate Justice Allison Riggs, writing a dissenting opinion backed by the other Democratic justice on the court, said that state constitutional claims should be preempted from the federal law. Riggs criticized the majority for 'fundamentally unsound' constitutional analyses.
'Through a series of dizzying inversions, it explicitly rewrites an unambiguous statute to exclude state constitutional claims from the broad and inclusive immunity,' Riggs said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
37 minutes ago
- New York Post
California resident tests positive for the plague after camping trip
A person in California tested positive for the plague and local health officials suspect the patient contracted the disease from an infected flea while camping. Health officials urged residents of the Golden State to 'take precautions' when outdoors following the infection of a resident from South Lake Tahoe. 'Plague is naturally present in many parts of California, including higher elevation areas of El Dorado County,' Kyle Fliflet, El Dorado County's acting director of public health, said in a statement. Advertisement 'It's important that individuals take precautions for themselves and their pets when outdoors, especially while walking, hiking and or camping in areas where wild rodents are present,' said Fliflet. The plague is caused by a type of bacteria typically carried by rodent species. It was introduced into the US in the early 20th century by immigrants traveling on rat-infested ships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 4 A California resident texted positive for the plague. AP Advertisement While the US most often records cases of bubonic plague, there are three different types that the bacteria can cause. It's bubonic when the lymph nodes are primarily impacted, septicemic when it's in the bloodstream and pneumonic when the lungs are affected. 4 The person lives in South Lake Tahoe. Susan Vineyard – Most bubonic plague symptoms, including regular cold symptoms like a fever and nausea, take two weeks to set in. Seven cases are typically recorded nationally each year, according to the CDC. Advertisement A majority of cases are usually identified in the western parts of the US, mainly between New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado, according to the CDC. Humans usually get infected through the bite from an infected flea on rodent carriers or by improperly handling an infected animal. 4 The Bubonic Plague is the most common variant in the US. PRB ARTS – The disease is thankfully not nearly as fatal as when it sparked the infamous Black Death in England during the 14th century, and can be cured with simple antibiotics. Advertisement 4 One person died of the plague in Arizona in early July. jarun011 – The plague last sparked an epidemic in the US in Los Angeles between 1924 and 1925, according to the CDC. Since 2000, at least 15 people have died from the plague, according to CDC data. In early July, one Arizona resident died of the plague in the first recorded fatality of the year. Local health officials warned that the prairie dog die-off was likely to blame. Weeks later, a dead domestic cat in Colorado tested positive for the plague.
Time Magazine
3 hours ago
- Time Magazine
Public Health Workers Criticize RFK Jr. After CDC Shooting
More than 750 public health workers sent a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday, urging him to 'stop spreading inaccurate health information' and guarantee employees' safety, in the wake of a shooting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) earlier this month. The letter—signed by both named and anonymous current and former staffers at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), CDC, and National Institutes of Health who noted they signed the letter in their 'own personal capacities'—said the attack on the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta on Aug. 8 'was not random.' 'The attack came amid growing mistrust in public institutions, driven by politicized rhetoric that has turned public health professionals from trusted experts into targets of villainization—and now, violence,' public health workers said in the letter, which was also addressed to members of Congress. 'CDC is a public health leader in America's defense against health threats at home and abroad. When a federal health agency is under attack, America's health is under attack. When the federal workforce is not safe, America is not safe.' The public health workers went on to accuse Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, of being 'complicit in dismantling America's public health infrastructure and endangering the nation's health by repeatedly spreading inaccurate health information.' They cited several statements and actions that Kennedy has made in recent months, pointing to his claim that mRNA vaccines 'fail to protect effectively' against upper respiratory infections such as COVID-19—despite years of research showing that the shots are both safe and effective—and his announcement that HHS would be winding down mRNA vaccine development. They also condemned his decision to remove all the experts from a critical vaccine advisory committee. And they said some of Kennedy's past comments—such as claiming that there is a 'cesspool of corruption at CDC'—were 'sowing public mistrust' in the health agency. The public health workers expressed their wish to honor police officer David Rose, who was killed while responding to the attack on the CDC headquarters in August. HHS said in a statement to TIME that Kennedy 'is standing firmly with CDC employees—both on the ground and across every center—ensuring their safety and well-being remain a top priority.' The agency added that, after the shooting earlier this month, Kennedy traveled to Atlanta and called the CDC 'a shining star' among the world's health agencies. 'For the first time in its 70-year history, the mission of HHS is truly resonating with the American people—driven by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy's bold commitment to Make America Healthy Again,' HHS said. 'Any attempt to conflate widely supported public health reforms with the violence of a suicidal mass shooter is an attempt to politicize a tragedy.' Law enforcement officials said they found evidence that the suspect in the August shooting, who they identified as Patrick Joseph White of Georgia, blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his health ailments. White was found dead at the scene, and authorities later said that he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. CDC Director Susan Monarez noted the dangers posed by misinformation in a staff meeting in the wake of the attack. 'We know that misinformation can be dangerous,' she said, according to NBC News. 'Not only to health, but to those that trust us and those we want to trust. We need to rebuild the trust together.' The day after the shooting, Kennedy expressed his condolences to Rose's family in a post on X. 'We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others,' he said. 'We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose—even in moments of grief and uncertainty. We honor their service. We stand with them. And we remain united in our mission to protect and improve the health of every American.' Kennedy was one of President Donald Trump's most controversial Cabinet nominees, and faced heated questioning by Senators during his confirmation hearings. He has drawn outrage from the medical establishment in the past for spreading disinformation, including repeating the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. In their letter, public health workers claimed Kennedy's 'dangerous and deceitful statements and actions have contributed to the harassment and violence experienced by CDC staff.' They implored him to take three steps by Sept. 2 to 'uphold his pledge to safeguard the health of the American public,' including asking him to 'stop spreading inaccurate health information,' particularly regarding vaccines, infectious disease transmission, and the country's public health institutions. They also urged him to affirm the scientific integrity of the CDC and guarantee the safety of HHS employees, such as through emergency procedures and alerts. 'The deliberate destruction of trust in America's public health workforce puts lives at risk,' they wrote in the letter. 'We urge you to act in the best interest of the American people—your friends, your families, and yourselves.'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
At least 600 CDC employees are getting final termination notices, union says
NEW YORK (AP) — At least 600 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are receiving permanent termination notices in the wake of a recent court decision that protected some CDC employees from layoffs but not others. The notices went out this week and many people have not yet received them, according to the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at CDC. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday did not offer details on the layoffs and referred an AP reporter to a March statement that said restructuring and downsizing were intended to make health agencies more responsive and efficient. AFGE officials said they are aware of at least 600 CDC employees being cut. But 'due to a staggering lack of transparency from HHS," the union hasn't received formal notices of who is being laid off,' the federation said in a statement on Wednesday. The permanent cuts include about 100 people who worked in violence prevention. Some employees noted those cuts come less than two weeks after a man fired at least 180 bullets into the CDC's campus and killed a police officer. 'The irony is devastating: The very experts trained to understand, interrupt and prevent this kind of violence were among those whose jobs were eliminated,' some of the affected employees wrote in a blog post last week. On April 1, the HHS officials sent layoff notices to thousands of employees at the CDC and other federal health agencies, part of a sweeping overhaul designed to vastly shrink the agencies responsible for protecting and promoting Americans' health. Many have been on administrative leave since then — paid but not allowed to work — as lawsuits played out. A federal judge in Rhode Island last week issued a preliminary ruling that protected employees in several parts of the CDC, including groups dealing with smoking, reproductive health, environmental health, workplace safety, birth defects and sexually transmitted diseases. But the ruling did not protect other CDC employees, and layoffs are being finalized across other parts of the agency, including in the freedom of information office. The terminations were effective as of Monday, employees were told. Affected projects included work to prevent rape, child abuse and teen dating violence. The laid-off staff included people who have helped other countries to track violence against children — an effort that helped give rise to an international conference in November at which countries talked about setting violence-reduction goals. 'There are nationally and internationally recognized experts that will be impossible to replace,' said Tom Simon, the retired senior director for scientific programs at the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention. ___
