Vermont officials immune from liability for vaccinating children against parents' instructions

Vermont public schools don't need mandates to vaccinate students under a ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court that immunizes public officials from liability for violating parents' directives for their children.

The Green Mountain State's highest court, all but one justice appointed by Republican governors, dismissed a lawsuit by Dario and Shujen Politella against the Windham Southeast School District for "mistakenly" giving their son a single dose of Pfizer's COVID vaccine at a "state-sponsored vaccine clinic" at his school without the required parental consent.

When dropping off the boy at school that day, the father "reiterated" that the boy was not to be vaccinated and the assistant principal agreed. "An unidentified worker," however, removed the boy from class thinking he was another boy and had him jabbed even after he "verbally protested" that his father prohibited it, the court said.

Superintendent Mark Speno told families at the time that staff were "deeply sorry that this mistake happened, and have worked internally to improve our screening procedures," while claiming "we are not aware of any harm to the student because of this mistake," according to the Brattleboro Reformer.

The federal PREP Act overrides Vermont's healthcare bill of rights, the state constitution and other state laws, protecting those who administer the "covered countermeasure" of COVID vaccines, the ruling says. "Other state courts faced with similar facts" have reached the same conclusion, including for "claims based on the failure to secure parental consent."

The ruling has barely received attention outside of Vermont except on social media, where Libs of TikTok displayed a picture of Superintendent Speno along with the school.

"They have effectively gave [sic] a green light to government and big pharma to vaccinate your child without consent," one user wrote on X, claiming the court ignored the "willful misconduct" of the school, which isn't covered by the PREP Act.