Is Jacobson Now on Life Support?

In the recent ruling in a case brought against the LA Unified School District by the Health Freedom Defense Fund, the go-to vaccine mandate legal precedent was significantly put to the test and lost in the initial round.

Addressing the merits, the panel held that the district court misapplied the Supreme Court’s decision in Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U.S. 11 (1905), in concluding that the policy survived rational basis review.

Jacobson held that mandatory vaccinations were rationally related to preventing the spread of smallpox. Here, however, plaintiffs allege that the vaccine does not effectively prevent spread but only mitigates symptoms for the recipient and therefore is akin to a medical treatment, not a “traditional” vaccine. Additionally, smallpox is a disease whose severity is significantly greater than that produced by the SARS-Cov-2 virus, which has been compared in its severity to the common flu infection.

Taking plaintiffs’ allegations as true at this stage of litigation, plaintiffs plausibly alleged that the COVID-19 vaccine does not effectively “prevent the spread” of COVID-19. Thus, Jacobson does not apply.

Read the court’s opinion, OPINION OF THE 9TH CIRCUIT REVERSING AND REMANDING