Vermont Supreme Court Rules Against Family in School Vaccination Case

The Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday that a family cannot sue their child’s school district after their then-6-year-old child was mistakenly given a COVID-19 vaccine without their consent.

The incident occurred at a November 2021 clinic hosted by the Windham Southeast School District and the Vermont Department of Health. The child, referred to as L.P. in court documents, was a student at Academy School within the district.

According to the ruling, L.P.’s father had informed a school official prior to the clinic that his child should not be vaccinated. The school official acknowledged this directive. However, L.P. was mistakenly given a name tag meant for another student who had already been vaccinated earlier that day, leading to L.P. receiving one dose of the Pfizer vaccine.

Despite L.P. verbally protesting by saying, “Dad said no,” clinic workers proceeded with the vaccination. The error was eventually realized by Academy School officials, who called L.P.’s parents to apologize. Following the incident, L.P.’s parents decided to remove their child from the school.

The Vermont Supreme Court’s ruling stated that state and school officials involved are protected under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act. The PREP Act provides liability immunity to “covered persons” in the event of a public health emergency for actions related to administering “covered countermeasures,” which include vaccines.

“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 stated.

This decision upholds a January 2023 ruling by a state superior court.

Windham Southeast Superintendent Mark Speno issued an apology for the incident in a November 2021 letter to families. “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) has reached out to both Speno and an attorney for L.P.’s family for comment, but has not yet received a response. This story will be updated if responses are received.