Attorney General Jason Miyares issued his first opinion today stating Virginia’s public universities “cannot require the COVID-19 vaccine as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance.â€
From Wavy.com:
“Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly has amended other statutes to address pandemic-related issues,†Miyares said. “To date, the General Assembly has not amended the specific immunizations enumerated in (state code) to include immunization for COVID-19, and boards of visitors may not exercise and implied power to require ja certain vaccine when a specific statute governing vaccination excludes it.â€
Former Attorney General Mark Herring had said the General Assembly granted broad discretion to state colleges to set their policies, including vaccinations. Miyares disagrees.
“Although the General Assembly specifically authorized public institutions of higher education to assist the Department of Health and local health departments in the administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, the legislation did not grant such institutions power to impose vaccine requirements,†Miyares said.
More at the above link.
19 comments
Menangitis almost killed my mom many years ago. She was two weeks from taking her final vows as a Sister of Mercy. Dad stopped in to check on her at the request of his sister who was a cloistered nun and a good friend to my mom. Mom recovered, married her friend’s brother and had 5 boys. I’m the oldest.
But menangitis almost killed her
Get the shot
In August, the US Supreme Court allowed universities to require students to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Miyares is wrong, of course.
No, in August a SCOTUS justice denied an emergency review of the issue. SCOTUS has not weighed in. Further, the Indiana challenge in August was based on a Constitutional challenge to Indiana state law. Miyares is interpreting and offering his opinion of Virginia state law, concluding that the authority to mandate vaccines doesn’t exist.
By not imposing an injunction. the SCOTUS left in place the lower court ruling which stated that the U.S. Constitution “permits Indiana University to pursue a reasonable and due process of vaccination in the legitimate interest of public health for its students, faculty and staff.”
You and Miyares are wrong…
The courts, btw, will reach the same decision they did for Indiana University. Following Miyares’ logic, if a new health crisis were to arise, colleges would be powerless to require a vaccine against it until legislators wrote it into the law. The courts concluded IU had the right to act absent specific legislation and the same logic applies here. Indiana is a Dillon Rule state and the plaintiffs actually made the argument that not only did state law not specifically authorize mandates the “Indiana Vaccine Passport†law specifically precluded university mandates. They were found to be wrong… as is Miyares.
It’s time to stop the covid horseshit. It is a big science term… ENDEMIC… that’s for you Martin and Erica… Do you two stupid asses know what that means? Do you know vaccinated people who brought the omicron variant home and then their whole family caught it… ALL of whom had been double or triple vaccinated? I know many. See crap for brainses… You cannot stop a respiratory virus in the family of viruses that have existed for centuries. No mask…no leaky vaccine… no shutdowns (unless you want to shut everything down, including grocery stores and close people up in their homes like your friends in China do). Omicron has evolved to be less lethal and shit for brains… there is something called natural immunity. Do you two dumbasses know what that means? It means like with many other colds and viruses.. your actual immune system has developed its own defenses so you won’t get really sick. I know I know.. Biden and Fauci’s friends at Pfizer don’t make billions from that… but it works.
So move on from this shit and stop the hysteria.
That means you Schmucko Useful Idiots Martin and Erica.
should meningitis vaccines also be optional?
Are meningitis fully tested and approved? All the COVID vaccines are neither fully tested.nor really approved scientifically.
we shouldn’t have to make our children get the meningitis vaccine either.
I think the meningitis vaccine is optional unless something recently changed. I looked this up for a relative who was thinking of having his daughter vaxxed.
https://www.immunize.org/laws/menin_sec.asp
Your handle is personal choice and you are for vaccine mandates..?
I’m against vaccine mandates. UVA (and most other colleges) require the meningitis vaccine for freshmen. Why can’t the AG remove those too?
I see. You are consistent in your positions.
Then you aren’t talking about a law but about a college mandate. Liberty University has no such mandate.
I stand corrected. By Virginia State Law, all Virginia colleges are required to have students vaccinated against meningitis. However, this seems silly and isn’t cost effective.
silly?
The problem I have here is: who will be our next governor? Sears or Miyares? It is a nice problem to have.
My friends daughter goes to Liberty University. To vaxx or not is up to the individual. Glad to see this miyares decision is pro individual freedom