Indiana University vaccination requirement upheld by judge

Indiana University’s requirement that students be vaccinated against Covid-19 was upheld Monday by a federal judge.

The ruling appears to be the first that upholds a university’s coronavirus vaccination mandate, according to The New York Times.

Eight students sued the university, with their lawyer arguing that the requirement violated their constitutional rights and claimed that the university couldn’t require vaccination while the existing vaccines are approved under an emergency use authorization.

The lawyer, James Bopp Jr., said he planned to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, the Times reported.

“The Fourteenth Amendment permits Indiana University to pursue a reasonable and due process of vaccination in the legitimate interest of public health for its students, faculty and staff,” Judge Damon R. Leichty of the U.S. District Court for Northern Indiana said in Monday’s ruling, according to the Times.

Last week, the University of California finalized its own requirement that students, faculty and staff be vaccinated against Covid-19 regardless of whether one of the vaccines receives full approval from the Food and Drug Administration before the fall terms begin at those campuses.

The state’s other public university system, California State University, is planning to wait for full FDA approval before its own requirement goes into effect. The California Community Colleges system urged faculty, students and staff to be vaccinated but left to the system’s 73 districts to decide whether to require vaccines before they can return to campuses in the fall.