A Long Island couple who claimed their religious beliefs bar them from vaccinating their daughter have lost their bid to enroll the girl in a public elementary school. Martina and Andreas Schenk Caviezel aimed to enroll their 5-year-old daughter, CC, in the Great Neck school district without immunizing her. But after previous rulings denying a preliminary injunction and narrowing claims, Eastern District Judge Arthur D. Spatt ruled the couple had not shown additional evidence of their religious beliefs to withstand a summary judgment motion on the remaining state claim, under Public Health Law §2164(9). The statute offers exceptions to immunization laws for religious beliefs.
Judge Spatt, sitting in Central Islip, wrote in Caviezel v. Great Neck Public Schools, 10-cv-652, that the couple had not shown “a valid religious objection” to immunization. “[B]ecause the plaintiffs present no additional evidence to the Court beyond what was adduced at the preliminary injunction hearing, the Court’s analysis of that evidence, as set forth in its extensive Caviezel I opinion, stands.”
