San Francisco Transit Workers Awarded $7.8M for Denial of Religious Exemption to COVID Shots

A federal court in San Francisco, California has confirmed a ruling granting $7.8 million to Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees who were fired for failing to get COVID-19 shots.1 In October 2024, a federal jury awarded the transit workers $1.3 million each in a class action lawsuit in which a half a dozen transit […]
Vermont Supreme Court Rules PREP Act Supersedes State Constitution

The Supreme Court of Vermont threw out a lawsuit filed by Dario and Shujen Politella of Brattleboro, Vermont whose son L.P. was given a COVID-19 shot without their consent and against their wishes. The six-year-old boy received the shot at a pop-up health clinic hosted by the local school district and the health department. Prior […]
Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to COVID-19 Shot Mandates

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected appeals to two COVID shot mandate-related cases brought by Children’s Health Defense (CHD). In one case, CHD appealed a lower court ruling that the non-profit group lacked standing to sue the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) over its authorization of the COVID-19 shots for young children. In the […]
Kaiser Permanente Staff Fired for Refusing COVID Shot Asked to Return

Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) in America, is reaching out to health care professionals who were terminated for failing to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The company is asking former employees to apply to come back, now that it no longer requires employees to receive COVID shots as […]
FDA Removes Informed Consent Protections from Some Human Clinical Trials

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a final rule that authorizes some experimental human clinical trials to operate without first obtaining informed consent from participants. The new rule, which took effect on Jan. 22, 2024, allows clinical investigations that pose no more than a “minimal risk” and have appropriate safeguards to protect […]
U.S. Army Fails to Meet Recruitment Goals, Soldiers Dismissed for Refusing COVID Shots Invited Back

It has been nearly a year since the U.S. Congress repealed the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) mandate requiring soldiers to receive COVID-19 shots in order to be allowed to continue their service in the military. On Nov. 1, 2023, the U.S. Army sent a letter to 1,903 active-duty soldiers, who had been dismissed for […]