Civil Rights Group Sues George Mason University on Behalf of Professor Required to Get COVID Vaccine Despite Having Natural Immunity
By New Civil Liberties Alliance
The New Civil Liberties Alliance’s lawsuit says George Mason University’s attempt to interfere with Professor Zywicki’s bodily autonomy, with no legitimate rationale for doing so, not only violates medical ethics, but also fundamental rights protected in the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
George Mason University (GMU) is threatening employees with disciplinary action that includes “unpaid leave or possible loss of employment” if they don’t comply with the public university’s vaccine mandate.
On Aug. 4, the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on behalf of Antonin Scalia Law School Professor Todd Zywicki against GMU’s unconstitutional reopening policy for the Fall 2021 semester.
The policy requires all unvaccinated faculty and staff members, including those who can demonstrate natural immunity through recovery from a prior COVID-19 infection, to not only disclose their vaccination status as “a prerequisite for eligibility for any merit pay increases,” but also be forced into choosing between their health and personal autonomy and suffering serious detriment to their professional careers.
Zywicki has recovered from COVID-19 and thereby acquired robust natural immunity, as confirmed in multiple positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests during the past year. Zywicki’s immunologist, Dr. Hooman Noorchashm, has advised him that, based on his personal health and immunity status, it is medically unnecessary to get a COVID-19 vaccine — and that it violates medical ethics to order unnecessary procedures.
“George Mason University’s arbitrary, irrational and unscientific policy forces our client, a tenured law school professor who has devoted his life to serving his community and his country, to ignore the medical advice of his own doctor,” said Jenin Younes, litigation counsel for NCLA. “Receiving the vaccine would provide neither Professor Zywicki nor the GMU community any benefit, since he already has demonstrable, robust natural immunity.”
Younes added: “GMU’s attempt to interfere with Professor Zywicki’s bodily autonomy, with no legitimate rationale for doing so, not only violates medical ethics, but also fundamental rights protected in the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”
Affidavits from Drs. Jay Bhattacharya, Martin Kulldorff and Noorchashm explain that undergoing a full vaccination course creates a risk of harm and provides no benefit either to Zywicki or the GMU community.
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The reopening policy also conflicts with federal law. None of the vaccines approved for use in the U.S. has received full Food and Drug Administration approval. Rather, they have only been granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) status, which means anyone offered the vaccine may withhold their informed consent.
The policy thus conflicts with the EUA statute and thereby violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which dictates that a state or local law is preempted when it creates “an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution of the full purposes and objectives of Congress.”
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