Federal and State COVID-19 Vaccination Mandates
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage in parts of the United States, federal agencies, states, and municipalities have begun requiring vaccinations in certain circumstances in an effort to improve stalled vaccination rates. The Food and Drug Administration issued Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) for three vaccines in the U.S., and legal challenges have largely centered around whether the vaccines’ EUA status precludes such mandates. The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued an advisory opinion in July 2021 evaluating whether language under the EUA prevents entities from imposing vaccination requirements. Professor Dorit Reiss of UC Hastings Law discusses the opinion’s findings and explains the parameters of the mandates instituted in the Department of Veterans Affairs and in California for its employees and healthcare workers.
