PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, OCTOBER 22, 2021
Federal judge rejects last-ditch effort to
block Oregon COVID vaccine mandate
BY JULIA SHUMWAY
Of Oregon Capitol Chronicle
A federal judge on Monday struck
down a last-minute attempt to block
Oregon’s vaccination mandate for
teachers, health care workers and state
employees, while another heard argu-
ments in a similar case.
Most people working in health care
or education and executive branch
employees had until the end of the day
Monday to prove they’ve been fully vac-
cinated. Unless they’re represented by
unions that successfully bargained for
a delayed deadline or received medical
or religious exemptions, any employees
who haven't been fully vaccinated will
have to take time off or even lose their
jobs.
State employees and others have
been turning to courts in a last-min-
ute eff ort to escape Gov. Kate Brown’s
mandate.
Monday’s federal ruling is the latest
blow to vaccine opponents after state
courts rejected four separate attempts
to block a mandate Gov. Brown issued in
August. Several additional lawsuits over
the mandate are pending.
In the fi rst case, U.S. District Judge
Michael Simon in Portland fl atly turned
down a temporary restraining order
requested last week by 42 Oregonians,
including teachers, nurses, business
owners, a school volunteer and a state
employee. All are subject to the man-
date. Two have already been vaccinated
and 13 received exemptions on medical
or religious grounds.
Simon cited an 1877 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling on compulsory small-
pox vaccinations, in which the court
wrote that liberty guaranteed by the
Constitution “does not import an abso-
lute right in each person to be, at all
times and in all circumstances, wholly
freed from restraint.”
At least one of the plaintiff s, a nurse,
testifi ed that she was fi red for failing to
get a vaccine. Others said they would
lose their jobs or be fi ned $500 per day
as business owners who fail to require all
their employees to receive vaccinations.
“The vaccine orders present plaintiff s
with a diffi cult choice, but it is neverthe-
less a choice,” Simon wrote. “Plaintiff s
may either get the vaccine, apply for
an exception, or look for employment
elsewhere.”
He added that the federal court
couldn’t rule on whether Brown and the
Oregon Health Authority violated a state
law, because the Eleventh Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution prevents federal
courts from telling state offi cials how to
comply with a state law.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Judge Ann
Aiken on Monday afternoon heard argu-
ments from an attorney for the Freedom
Foundation, a right-wing think tank
based in Washington, and seven more
Oregonians who are subject to the man-
date. Aiken said she planned to issue a
ruling after the hearing, but it was not
available by Monday evening.
The plaintiff s in that case all tested
positive for COVID within the past year
and argue that they have natural immu-
nity to reinfection that makes a vaccine
medically unnecessary.
The federal Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) still recommends COVID
vaccinations for people who have
already had COVID citing a Kentucky
study that found unvaccinated people
were more than twice as likely to be rein-
fected with COVID than those who had
already been sick and vaccinated.
Three of the plaintiff s were approved
for medical exemptions, though with
restrictions that may still leave them
unable to do their jobs, Freedom
Foundation attorney Rebekah Millard
said in court. Another was denied an
MCFD1 paramedic Victor Hoffer (right) administers a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to a Mt.
Angel firefighter.
FILE PHOTO, Keizertimes
exemption, and two chose not to fi le
religious or medical exemption requests
because they had no “good faith reason”
to apply, she said.
“Because the right to bodily auton-
omy is basically eviscerated by the vac-
cine mandates, the plaintiff s are in the
position of choosing between bodily
autonomy or their lawful employment,”
Millard said.
The state’s attorney, Christina Beatty-
Walters of the Oregon Department of
Justice, pointed to the four lawsuits
in Oregon state courts where judges
rejected requests to block the vac-
cine mandate from taking eff ect. Over
the past two weeks, district judges in
Jeff erson and Marion counties, the state
appeals court and the state appellate
commissioner have ruled against plain-
tiff s making similar arguments.
“Vaccines, your honor, are the best
public health tool we have to protect
the public,” Beatty-Walters told Aiken.
“We’re going on two years in this pan-
demic, and the governor and (Oregon
Health Authority) have taken action to
hasten its conclusion.”
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