As the coronavirus pandemic continues, courts are grappling with pandemic-related issues such as whether COVID-19 vaccine mandates must provide for religious exemptions. We will survey some recent court rulings.

Putting the Issues in Perspective

First, we should put vaccine mandates in context. In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that states can compel smallpox vaccinations. In 1922, the Supreme Court confirmed in Zucht v. King that schools can require such immunizations. According to an October 2021 report from Pew Research Center, all 50 states mandate vaccination of children against several communicable diseases. Colleges and universities also require immunizations. In Harsman v. Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, a federal court stated in September 2021 that “the overwhelming majority of courts to consider vaccine mandates have found them constitutionally sound.”

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