HMH Nurses Have a Case
The Covid pandemic isn’t the first time health care workers have been mandated a novel vaccine. Looks like some of the Covid tactics were used to push the H1N1 vaccine.
In addition to the lawsuits challenging the New York mandate, the New York Civil Liberties Union testified before the New York State Assembly Committees on Health, Labor, Education, Higher Education and Workplace Safety, and sent a letter to Mr. Daines explaining that the mandate “conflicts with well established legal principles and public health policy” and “violates the right of competent adults to direct the course of their medical care and treatment.” The NYCLU argues the H1N1 vaccine is distinguishable from other mandatory vaccines because the mortality rate for those who contract H1N1 is lower (compared to smallpox), and the vaccine is not 100% effective in preventing the disease, treating it, or preventing transmission (unlike the vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella, diphtheria, polio, and tuberculosis). Furthermore, the NYCLU points out that,Part of the reasoning behind the mandate is to keep health care workers healthy, so they can care for patients. New York already has a shortage of nurses, and maximizing the number of working nurses will be critical if H1N1 causes an influx of patients. As the NYCLU points out, however, if a significant number of nurses (and other health care workers) are fired because they refuse the vaccination, the mandate will prevent many healthy nurses from caring for patients.
https://law.stanford.edu/2009/10/22/update-on-new-york-mandatory-h1n1-vaccinations/