A federal judge struck down the vaccine mandate at a Louisiana medical school, holding that it violates religious liberty rights under the Louisiana Constitution, and issuing a temporary restraining order against the school for the pendency of the case.
According to the temporary restraining order, the students objected to the vaccine because they (accurately) believed them to be “devised from aborted fetal tissues, violating their religious beliefs.” They also dissented because the vaccine is approved for emergency use only “and is therefore experimental.”
According to the court:
Even if [the law] allows for restrictions to be placed upon a student’s dissent, the
restrictions placed by VCOM [Via College of Medicine] on Plaintiffs are excessive. Restrictions that keep students from completing their curriculum defeats the purpose of having the right of dissent.
On the day before their COVID-19 Committee met, VCOM sent Plaintiffs an email telling them, for the first time, that they had a dissent option, without
providing any information as to what the requirement or consequences of such a dissent option would be.
The religious exemption provided to Plaintiffs by VCOM was the exercising of a dissent
pursuant to [the law]. VCOM had no right to restrict the Plaintiffs, and the Plaintiffs have
not waived the dissent option.
Therefore, VCOM, by restricting the Plaintiffs’ dissents, has violated the provisions of [the law].
The court also noted that the college's Covid policy continually whipsawed between allowing and denying religious and medical exemptions.
Read the full order here.