Waltham Mom, MA Grad Student Sue State Over Flu Vaccination Rules

WALTHAM, MA —A Waltham mother is suing the state over its new flu vaccine requirement, saying the state doesn't have the power to require students to get vaccinated.

"Unelected officials at the Public Health Department are not above the law and cannot require a flu shot for children in K-12 and college students in the commonwealth without following the procedures mandated by the legislature and respecting the limits of their authority under the law," said Attorney Aaron Siri, who is based in New York.

Siri, who is based in New York, and Boston attorney Stefan Jouret filed the complaint in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of Tamar Massoyan-Artinian of Waltham and Springfield College graduate student Madison Schiltz. It names both the state Department of Public Health and Commissioner Monica Bharel as defendants.

The Department of Public Health did not immediately return request for comment.

Under the new rules announced in August and then updated last week, all children 6 months and older attending child care, preschool, kindergarten, schools and colleges and universities in the state will be required to get a flu vaccine by the end of February.

The state had said the mandatory vaccinations would help mitigate the coronavirus crisis.

Massoyan-Artinian doesn’t want her two kids who both attend Waltham Public Schools to take the vaccine because of previous negative reactions to it, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported in the Boston Herald. She said she tried to get a medical exemption, but her provider wouldn’t give her one. Massoyan-Artinian referred Patch's request for comment to Siri.

There are provisions for medical or religious exemptions, but they're not easy to come by.

K-12 students who are homeschooled and college and higher education students who are off-campus only attending school remotely, are exempt. But K-12 students using an online education model are not exempt.

They are set to present their case before a Suffolk Superior judge in Boston in the next month.

The case was filed on Dec 18, and the court hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction was scheduled for Dec. 29, but when the Public Health Department moved the enforcement date for the flu shot mandate from Dec. 31, to Feb. 28, there was no longer an emergency need for a preliminary injunction and the date for the court hearing for the preliminary injunction is being moved to what will likely be the end of January, according to Siri's office.

Read more:

• Should The Massachusetts Flu Vaccine Requirement For Students Also Apply To Teachers?
• Massachusetts Delays Student Flu Vaccination Deadline