Bad News for Natural Immunity; Good News Religious Freedom. By Chris Knight (Florida)
These are US decisions, and are only of interest in other jurisdictions. First, a federal judge denied a request to block Michigan State University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the basis of natural immunity. Bad news. But on a brighter note, a federal judge in New York ruled that religious exemptions for health care workers must be upheld in spite of the state’s widespread Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Thus, it is hard to say how this one will play out in the United States, as decisions are going either way.
“A federal judge on Oct. 8 denied a request to block Michigan State University’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the basis of natural immunity.
An employee at the school, Jeanna Norris, filed a lawsuit against the mandate and asked a judge to intervene on the basis that she had already contracted COVID-19 and recovered. She presented two antibody tests showing her previous infection, and her doctors told her that she didn’t need to get the vaccine at this time.
Despite her natural immunity, Norris faces termination from the university for not complying with the school’s mandate that all students and staff get the shot unless they have a medical or religious exemption.
U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, declined her lawsuit. The mandate, Maloney said, didn’t violate her fundamental rights and pointed to a 1905 Supreme Court ruling.
“This Court must apply the law from the Supreme Court: Jacobson essentially applied rational basis review and found that the vaccine mandate was rational in ‘protect[ing] the public health and public safety,’” Maloney said in his order. “The Court cannot ignore this binding precedent.”
Some studies have shown that natural immunity afforded by a previous COVID-19 infection provides longer-lasting and stronger protection against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus than the vaccines. An Israeli study published in August compared individuals who had a previous infection with those who received the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine and said their “analysis demonstrated that natural immunity affords longer-lasting and stronger protection against infection, symptomatic disease, and hospitalization due to the Delta variant.”
“This is the largest real-world observational study comparing natural immunity, gained through previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, to vaccine-induced immunity, afforded by the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine,” the study said.
Lawyers for Norris told The Washington Times that she’s considering legal alternatives.
“Ms. Norris courageously brought this lawsuit to vindicate the constitutional rights of individuals with naturally acquired immunity to COVID-19 who are subject to irrational vaccine mandates,” Jenin Younes, a lawyer who works for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, who represents Norris, told the paper. “While we are disappointed by today’s order, we are committed to fighting for the rights of COVID-recovered Americans to decline a medically unnecessary vaccine without having to sacrifice their livelihoods.”
It comes just days after a federal judge in California ruled against a professor who argued that his previous infection should make him exempt from the University of California’s vaccine requirement.”
“A federal judge in New York ruled on Tuesday that religious exemptions for health care workers must be upheld in spite of the state’s sweeping COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Then-Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the mandate in August.
The governor’s office said on Aug. 16 that “all healthcare workers in New York State, including staff at hospitals and long-term care facilities… including nursing homes, adult care, and other congregate care settings, will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Monday, September 27.”
“When COVID ambushed New York last year, New Yorkers acted, while the Federal Government denied the problem,” Cuomo said at the time. “Now, the Delta variant is spreading across the nation and across New York …”
“Our healthcare heroes led the battle against the virus, and now we need them to lead the battle between the variant and the vaccine.
“I have strongly urged private businesses to implement vaccinated-only admission policies, and school districts to mandate vaccinations for teachers. Neither will occur without the state legally mandating the actions — private businesses will not enforce a vaccine mandate unless it’s the law, and local school districts will be hesitant to make these challenging decisions without legal direction.”
Health care workers filed a lawsuit over the mandate, which led to Tuesday’s ruling that religious exemptions must be allowed, Spectrum News reported.
U.S. District Judge David Hurd of the Northern District of New York, in a 27-page ruling, banned any retaliation by state health officials against health care workers who do not want to be vaccinated due to religious reasons.
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“The Department of Health is barred from taking any action, disciplinary or otherwise, against the licensure, certification, residency, admitting privileges or other professional status or qualification of any of the plaintiffs on account of their seeking or having obtained a religious exemption from mandatory COVID-19 vaccination,” Hurd said in his decision.
The ruling also protects companies from facing any punishment from the state for employing unvaccinated health care workers who do receive an exemption.
The lawsuit against the state was led by 17 health anonymous care professionals, WROC-TV reported.
It argued that “[p]laintiffs hold the sincere religious belief that they ‘cannot consent to be inoculated … with vaccines that were tested, developed or produced with fetal cell[ ] line[s] derived from procured abortions.’”
Melanie Franco, the attorney for the plaintiffs, commented on the lawsuit in September.
“Health care workers could still get medical exemptions, but not religious exemptions. Their arguments are that it goes against not only the constitution but also the New York State Human Rights Law,” Franco said, according to WROC.
The outlet reported that Hurd said he would welcome an appeal to his decision in favor of the state’s health care workers.
“[The ruling has] nothing to do with how an individual employer should handle an individual employee’s religious objection to a workplace vaccination requirement. But they have everything to do with the proper division of federal and state power,” the judge said.
“Because the issues in dispute are of exceptional importance to the health and the religious freedoms of our citizens, an appeal may very well be appropriate,” he said.
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was listed as a defendant in the lawsuit, as was state Attorney General Letitia James.”
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