For NYC's Under-5 Set, No More Flu Shots Required

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MANHATTAN, NY — Kids under age five in New York City will no longer be required to get the flu shot in order to attend preschool, daycare and other pre-K programs, a Manhattan judge ruled Thursday.

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez said officials with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), under the Bloomberg administration, acted outside their authority when they added the flu to the city’s list of diseases requiring vaccinations for young kids.

By law, the judge said, that list can only be amended by New York State politicians.

A DOHMH spokesman said by email that the city’s flu-shot requirement for kids between the ages of six months and five years was set to go into effect next month, in January 2016.

But given Thursday’s ruling, the spokesman said, “it will not be enforced at this point.”

NYC Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett said in a bitter post-ruling statement, sent to Patch, that the city would appeal the decision.

“I am extremely disappointed by today’s decision,” she said. “Influenza kills an average of 24,000 people each year in the United States, and the virus is spread easily in child care settings to children and their families. The vaccination requirement will save lives and protect New York City children from this severe disease. While we proceed with an appeal, we strongly recommend that parents vaccinate their children against the flu.”

A group of five Brooklyn and Manhattan moms filed a lawsuit against the city for its flu-shot policy in early November.

“I believe that my human right to informed consent as to what should be injected into my toddler’s body, especially where my learned judgment is that she should not receive the flu shot, at least should be [considered] by my elected representatives,” plaintiff Clemence Rasigni, of the Flatiron District, reportedly wrote in her affidavit.

Rasigni was joined by Magdalena Garcia of Harlem, Lynn Rosenger of Borough Park, Michelle Carroll of Bay Ridge and Gabrielle Jakob of Sheepshead Bay in filing the lawsuit, according to the New York Daily News.

The moms claimed that letting the DOHMH mandate flu shots for the under-5 set was an “egregiously unprecedented act of policy-making” that created a “slippery slope.”