2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Copyright 2023 The College Fix, all rights reserved. Low around 45F. The professor said he understands the school's need to keep people safe and doesn't argue against George Mason University asking for proof that employees and students won't spread the virus, but thinks the school should focus on immunity rather than vaccinations. He later describes wearing a mask as punitive because hes basically that wacko from the Trader Joes line with a law degree. "I feel like I'm being treated unequally," Aaron Kheriaty, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine, said, SBG reported. He said he filed for a medical exemption to the university's policy but he hasn't heard back. Fox News Flash top headlines are here. The two cite several studies that found those who have recovered from a COVID infection possess immunity as robust and durable as that acquired through vaccination.. How you can get through current challenges while advancing long-term goals. George Mason University does not comment on specific ongoing litigation and therefore has no comment on the specifics of Dr. Zywickis lawsuit, said Robin Rose Parker, a spokeswoman for the university. A California professor is suing his schools officials over a COVID-19 mandate, saying that he already contracted the virus and is naturally immune.AaronKheriaty, [associate] professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine, filed a lawsuit Aug. 18, saying he got sick with COVID-19 in July 2020. Todd Zywicki has already contracted COVID and recovered, which he reasons should exempt him from any vaccination requirement. Article. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, The school recently announced all staff need to either show proof of vaccination or get a medical or religious exemption to work on campus in Fall 2021. He is currently pursuing a JD from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. The plaintiff asserts that GMUs vaccine policy, in practice a mandate, and refusal to acknowledge the merits of natural immunity are problematic because they violate his right to refuse unnecessary healthcare. "Until they show me evidence that people who have already had the infection are dying in large numbers, or being hospitalized or getting very sick, I just made my own personal decision that Im not getting vaccinated because Ive already had the disease and I have natural immunity," Paul said in May. We've received your submission. Download the WUSA9 app to get breaking news, weather and important stories at your fingertips. Build the strongest argument relying on authoritative content, attorney-editor expertise, and industry defining technology. ] Washington v. Harper, 494 U.S. 210, 229 (1990).. Psychiatry professor at UC Irvine sues over colleges vax mandate saying previous COVID infection means hes immune A professor in California is suing the Zywicki and the New Civil Liberties Alliances lawsuit against the university is currently ongoing and remains an active court case. This lawsuit is only illustrative of the two camps that have developed and how insulated many core decision makers have been from one over the other. "These data further indicate that COVID-19 vaccines offer better protection than natural immunity alone and that vaccines, even after prior infection, help prevent reinfections," the CDC said in a news release on the study. Zywicki feels the vaccine requirement is an infringement of his rights as the available vaccines have not been fully approved by the Food and Drug Administration. It also found that vaccinated individuals are seven to 27 times more likely to have a symptomatic future infection than those who recovered from the virus. The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine prohibits the government from imposing coercive incentives against exercising a constitutionally protected right. Sign up for the Capitol Breach email newsletter, delivering the latest breaking news and a roundup of the investigation into the Capitol Riots on Jan. 6, 2021. or anything. Workers may also get a work-from-home exemption and unvaccinated may face mask mandates and frequent testing which the lawsuit calls burdensome, invasive, painful, and carries its own risk of physical injury.. Legal Statement. But the university stands by their decision to require vaccines for all to create a normal, in-person school year experience. And, of course, there are valid reasons why someone might not be able to get the vaccine. Other faculty members joined Kheriaty on the effectiveness of natural immunity in a legal brief and cited research showing that people who have previously contracted COVID-19 may experience worse side effects from the vaccine than those who never contracted the virus. At the very least, the decision should be left to Professor Zywicki and his doctors without coercion applied by the University.. Furthermore, the lawsuit would have served as an interesting test case for vaccine mandate-related litigation, which will become more prevalent as time goes on. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Law professor with COVID antibodies sues GMU over vaccine mandate. George Mason University granted a medical exemption, Eliminating Property Rights Destroys Social Order, What Are We For? The move is also mysterious, given the relevance of the matter. Sponsor the work of leading economists and academics as they advance the study of the economic principles that underwrite human prosperity and progress via AIER.org. This study shows you are twice as likely to get infected again if you are unvaccinated. GMU staff face disciplinary action if they dont get vaccinated or receive an exemption, according to the lawsuit. "And they bypass the process of informed consent thats so central to good clinical medicine.". But if first you dont succeed try and waste judicial resources again. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. "But what we are saying is that you have to make sense and you can't try to compel me to undergo an unnecessary medical procedure just because you want to check a box rather than check whether or not me or anybody else actually have immune protection.". Discipline includes potential firing and no chance at merit-based raises if teachers and other workers dont upload proof of the vaccination, the suit alleges. GMUs penalties are therefore an impairment of Professor Zywickis right to refuse medical care. The school board voted 4-3 to approve mask-wearing for the 2021-2022 school year, after originally saying parents could opt their kids out. 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Be Nice. Feel free toemail any tips, questions, or comments. The plaintiff alleged the school has not demonstrated this requirement. "But what the evidence shows is that those who have been infected and recovered from COVID have immunity protection that's comparable to that provided by the highest quality vaccines in the range of 90 to 95%.". His lawsuit was led by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, with the lead counsel on the case being AIER Contributor Jenin Younes. UC Irvine has suspended the professor who filed a lawsuit against its COVID vaccine mandate. These events seem to signal a coming legal inflection point on mandatory inoculation policies. Better get vaccinated, Students say Loyola Marymount's vaccine mandate is 'apartheid'. The lawsuit was filed after IU officials announced in May that the school would require its roughly 90,000 students and 40,000 employees on its seven campuses to receive COVID-19 vaccinations for the fall semester. Legal Statement. Keep it Clean. In Texas, a judge recently sided with Houston Methodist Hospital's vaccine mandate for their employees and tossed out a lawsuit filed by 117 employees who were against getting the shot. sues Use the 'Report' link on Students with approved medical or religious exemptions and students who are taking only online courses are excluded from this mandate. Thats exactly what George Mason University learned recently when it imposed a school-wide vaccine mandate for students, faculty, and staff. New Columns From Your Class Correspondents - Cornellians But if youre wondering why GMUs reasonable caveat that the unvaccinated just continue wearing masks doesnt resolve literally every one of Zywickis complaints: Yet, if Professor Zywicki follows his doctors advice and elects not to take the vaccine, that will diminish his efficacy in performing his professional responsibilities by hamstringing him in various ways, such as requiring him to wear a mask that has no public health value given his naturally acquired immunity. The school not only signals any intention to test for antibodies, but makes the premature conclusion that vaccination is superior, even assuming equality of effectiveness amongst all vaccines. Heres How To Get Yours Right. Of course most of the complaint is an effort to diminish the efficacy of vaccines based on cherry-picking data from various studies circulating around your uncles Facebook page. In Professor Zywickis case, there is no doubt that, based on recent measures of his antibody levels and his history of prior COVID infection, he is protected by natural immunity, the two medical professors state. Follow him onTwitterif youre interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news. He has also held research positions at the Cato Institute, the Connecticut State Senate, Cause of Action Instituteand other organizations. All quotes delayed a minimum of 15 minutes. If the state wishes to implement a coercive measure, the burden of evidence is on itself to prove that its policy is narrowly tailored to a compelling government interest. This small victory for Professor Zywicki still leaves the burning legal question of vaccine mandates wide open. He is currently pursuing a JD from the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. The whole section amounts to a repudiation of vaccine requirements of all kinds, because even though he contends that hes unique for having had the disease and not yet lost his antibodies, he also says its a constitutional violation to make someone prove that fact in order to get out of the policy meaning in the landscape hes seeking there just cant be vaccination rules for any vaccines at all. A group of former students filed a lawsuit alleging that the University of Michigan is illegally limiting their attempts to share accounts of the abuse perpetrated by Kheriaty added that people should get the vaccine if theyre so inclined to do so, but noted that people should weigh the risks of the coronavirus against the risks of vaccine side effects. Because he tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies after a bout with the virus last year, there is no "compelling governmental interest in overriding Professor Zywickis personal autonomy and constitutional rights by forcing him, in essence, to either be vaccinated or to suffer adverse professional consequences," the complaint asserts. One patent in question has to do with a modification to the mRNA delivered in Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. George Mason University has provided a medical exemption that allows a professor to go unvaccinated after he claimed the school's COVID-19 vaccine mandate Im no expert on this whole original public meaning thing, but this seems significant. Fox News, Sept. 9, 2021 September 9, 2021 California professor sues over vaccine mandate, says he has natural immunity I feel like Im being treated unequally, Aaron Kheriaty, [associate] professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of California, Irvine, said, SBG reported. Of course, there are rare side effects experienced by some whove gotten the vaccine. Antonin Scalia Law School professor Todd Zywicki, 55, calls the Virginia universitys requirements unconstitutional and says he shouldnt have to get jabbed after Let the individual weigh their own risks and benefits., Kheriaty wrote that the UC system barred him from using his accumulated paid vacation days after he was placed on unpaid suspension. A NEW STUDY SAYS NATURAL IMMUNITY MAY BE BETTER THAN VACCINES. They write that, Multiple extensive, peer-reviewed studies comparing natural and vaccine immunity have now been published. The plaintiffs contend, Defendants cannot show that they have a compelling interest in coercing Professor Zywicki into taking a COVID-19 vaccine, because GMU has The Constitution dooms DeSantis, but should Disney be pointing that out? Justice Robertss Wife Making Money Isnt The Own You Think It Is: Focus on the actual scandals like Gorsuch and Thomas. He has also held research positions at the Cato Institute, the Connecticut State Senate, Cause of Action Instituteand other organizations. 250 Division Street | PO Box 1000Great Barrington, MA 01230-1000, Press and other media outlets contact888-528-1216[emailprotected]. The exterior of the Houston Methodist Hospital is pictured on June 9, 2021 in Houston. Jenin Younes, an attorney representing the professor, told The College Fix on Wednesday that as far as she knows this may be the first lawsuit in which a person with naturally acquired COVID immunity has sued their employer over a vaccine mandate. In a statement posted to the schools website on July 22, university President Gregory Washington said the decision to mandate vaccinations was made in the face of the more contagious Delta variant. The group of 18 students is represented by Childrens Health Defense (CHD), an activist group founded by Robert F. Kennedy. We'd love to hear eyewitness Low around 45F. His lawsuit is joined by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a non-profit law firm dedicated to advancing constitutional freedoms and founded by the prominent legal scholar Philip Hamburger. Houston Methodist Hospital has suspended 178 employeeShow more --- Dr. Aaron Kheriaty, a professor of At the end of the day, Zywickis only concern as far as doubling up his immunity with a vaccine is the possibility of side effects, as explained here: Put differently, as a matter of simple logic, one cannot be certain about the long-term effects of a vaccine that has existed only for approximately a year, and thus cannot have been studied over a substantial period of time. Explore new data on how modern law firms are managing their work. Threats of harming another "Efforts to elicit conversation, discussion, debate on the issue have fallen flat in my experience," he said, adding that he took legal action after hearing concerns from others at the school. If the school believes that the prevalence of antibodies is important in advancing its public health goals, then it ought to recognize that they are acquired by both vaccination and infection. It alleges that the public universitys vaccine policy violates Zywickis right to privacy and due process, among other claims. A George Mason University law professor with naturally acquired immunity from COVID has filed a lawsuit demanding an exemption from a policy that requires Aaron Kheriaty, The lawsuit seeks a declaratory judgment that GMUs policy infringes on the professors constitutionally protected rights to protect his bodily integrity and to refuse unnecessary medical treatment.. However, a study released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on Aug. 6 showed data indicating unvaccinated people who were previously infected with COVID-19 were more than twice as likely to be reinfected with the virus as those who were fully vaccinated after contracting the virus. And somehow we havent been able to apply those ways of reasoning to COVID. Furthermore, the suit made similar 14th Amendment claims to the GMU filing. The plaintiff is Todd Zywicki, the George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law, who has as impressive of a resume as anyone can imagine. Four teams of lawyers, and this is the best they came up with? All faculty members are supposed to upload their proof of vaccination to the university system by Oct.1, Or have an approved medical or religious exemption." However, he said he was met "mostly with radio silence" before he filed the lawsuit. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism Is Your Firm Keeping Pace With The Advancements In eDiscovery? If the right still holds, how will it apply to city-wide vaccine passport programs, given that Covid-19 is a relatively mild disease? Furthermore, established case law enshrines the right to bodily integrity. 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According to the court filing, The Supreme Court has recognized that the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individuals right to privacy. DR. MARC SIEGEL: I HAD MEASLES AND DON'T NEED A VACCINE TO PROTECT ME. This is something which most professors have been forced to do anyway for most of the last year, so it is clearly not an unprecedented or unreasonable requirement., MORE: Professor with naturally acquired COVID immunity battles GMU vaccine mandate, Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter.