Hundreds of thousands of college and graduate students at public universities have been given a choice: Get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or don’t show up to campus in the fall.
More than a dozen students have opted for a third option: Sue their school.
Students have brought federal lawsuits challenging the vaccination requirements at major public university systems in Indiana, Connecticut, California and Massachusetts. The students, in several cases backed by antivaccine groups, are insisting they have a constitutional right to go to college in person and unvaccinated.
The odds against the lawsuits are considerable, public-health law scholars say. Already a federal appeals court has affirmed Indiana University’s vaccine requirement, a decision cited by other school defendants. When balancing public-health interests against individual liberties, courts historically have given state entities much deference.
Still, the antivaccine legal effort represents one of the most significant tests in recent years of the government’s power to press adults to get vaccinated, legal scholars said.
