San Diego Student, Parents Sue District Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Protesters show extracurricular of the San Diego Unified School District bureau against a vaccination mandate for students successful San Diego, Calif., connected Sept. 28, 2021. (Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

SAN DIEGO—A 16-year-old Scripps Ranch High School pupil and her parents filed a suit connected Friday against the San Diego Unified School District to artifact its precocious approved COVID-19 vaccine mandate for unit and students implicit the property of 16.

The suit filed successful San Diego national tribunal connected behalf of the family—identified arsenic John, Jane and Jill Doe successful the complaint—states that the precocious schoolhouse junior’s spiritual beliefs prohibit her from getting the vaccine.

The territory approved a vaccine mandate program past month, which requires that each students implicit property 16 person their 2nd dose nary aboriginal than Dec. 20. Unvaccinated students 16 years oregon older volition beryllium required to instrumentality portion successful distant learning via autarkic study. The district’s program allows for aesculapian exemptions to the mandate, but not spiritual oregon idiosyncratic content exemptions.

Representatives from the schoolhouse territory were not instantly disposable for remark connected the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Jill Doe’s spiritual absorption to termination prevents her from receiving the vaccine, arsenic it alleges the 3 vaccines approved for exigency use, oregon materials the vaccines were tested with, utilized worldly derived from stem compartment lines from aborted fetuses.

The ailment alleges that Jill Doe “must either wantonness her religion oregon enroll successful independent, online survey astatine SDUSD.”

Public wellness officials person said that portion fetal compartment lines from decades past person been utilized successful vaccine probe and development, the COVID-19 vaccines bash not incorporate aborted fetal cells. Fetal compartment lines are derived from aged fetal cells, meaning immoderate vaccine relying connected historical compartment lines bash not require, nor solicit caller abortions, according to a connection from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The suit follows 1 filed earlier this period by section parents radical Let Them Choose, which alleges the territory lacks the authorization to instrumentality a vaccine mandate. The radical says the mandate is “unnecessary, unlawful, violates students’ close to in-person acquisition and discriminates betwixt persons.”