students allege vaccination harassment at medical school | Local / state titles

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Complaints from Monroe students that they were unfairly targeted by a local medical school for refusing to receive an experimental COVID-19 vaccine generated a legal battle involving the state attorney general.

Some students accepted by the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, or VCOM, in Monroe cannot attend classes in the fall unless they receive a COVID-19 vaccine. VCOM operates on the campus of the University of Louisiana-Monroe.

VCOM says 300 students are enrolled in medical school, but only three are not vaccinated. Vaccinations are necessary, VCOM argues, especially for staff and students who interact face-to-face with patients.

According to State Attorney General Jeff Landry, some unidentified students are in possession of tapes from VCOM staff intimidating them for refusing to receive the vaccine.

These complaints included recordings of conversations with VCOM staff engaging in harassing and coercive behavior targeting students who exercised their right to refuse to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Landry said. Had VCOM immediately stopped retaliating against these students and changed its policies last spring, it may have avoided unnecessary litigation.

Although VCOM claims to have granted certain religious, medical and judicial exemptions, the medical school refused to grant a religious exemption to one of the three students on Tuesday.

The student whose name is not released at this time wrote a July 11 letter to VCOM identifying herself as a Christian asking for an exemption from receiving a vaccine due to the vaccine’s dependence on fetal cells. For example, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine used cells from an aborted fetus in 1985 while fetal cell lines were used to test the efficacy of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

What the world considers a type of cure, a privilege and something to covet in 2021 but is something that I consider an impurity, I don’t believe that using fetal cells from an aborted fetus for the benefit of the most great good or my personal benefit may be reconciled, the student wrote. I will not knowingly participate in the process of using such a product which violates the right to life and dishonours the lives of unborn children.

The student also noted that the COVID-19 vaccines have been approved by the government under an Emergency Use Authorization, or EUA, which means that a person has the right to obtain informed consent. and the possibility of refusing.

In a July 14 email obtained by The Ouachita Citizen, VCOM’s vice president of institutional policy, Randy Schuller, responded to the student by offering her two choices: get vaccinated or postpone her studies until next year. .

You must decide by July 19, 2021 to postpone or participate in the vaccination, Schuller wrote.

In disputing the concerns of the students, Schuller predicted that the vaccines would prove useful by next year.

You expressed your concern that not enough is known about the vaccine, Schuller wrote. By 2022, the vaccine will have been used for a period of one year and on more patients than any other vaccine in a trial.

Schullers’ email did not address the request for exemption from the students on religious grounds other than asking him to provide a verified religious or medical contraindication.

According to Schuller, the VCOM curriculum required students’ participation in performing medical examinations and supervised medical care of patients. Interaction with patients was the reason for compulsory school vaccination, according to Schuller.

Schuller also warned the student that she could be suspended or fired if the student continues this year without a vaccine or wearing a mask.

In an interview with The Ouachita Citizen on Tuesday, the student said she still had not found a resolution with VCOM allowing her to attend classes in the fall, without vaccination.

They released a new 11-page COVID policy, it’s a long document, she said. It’s confusing to read.

The student case was one of the complaints mentioned by Landry, the attorney general, in a July 20 letter to VCOM, berating the medical school for mandating an emergency use authorization, or EUA, product.

Landry also wrote that he would pursue all available legal means to ensure that the rights of Louisiana residents attending VCOM are protected against overt and overt coercion, harassment, and retaliation from VCOM for asserting their legal rights.

EUA products, such as COVID-19 vaccines, are optional, unlike other vaccines that have obtained Biologic License Application (BLA) approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has not approved any COVID-19 vaccine for BLA.

Fully aware of the differences between BLA and EUA vaccines, VCOM has misleadingly stated that [t]his is the same as any other vaccines a student must receive to enter medical school, Landry said. But in reality, the COVID-19 vaccine is the only non-BLA vaccine the school currently needs.

Landry noted that VCOM, by virtue of its agreement with a state university, was subject to state laws, including those allowing a student to obtain an exemption by providing written dissent.

VCOM responded to Landrys’ letter this week with a statement criticizing the attorney general for mishandling its COVID-19 vaccine policy.

According to VCOM, there were students and medical school employees who were granted exemptions for religious or health reasons.

There are also other employees and students who wish to wear masks for their own well-being, even if they are vaccinated as there have been cases of individuals who have been vaccinated who have contracted the Delta variant, a declared VCOM.

VCOM also said it informed the three unvaccinated students of how to request an exemption from the COVID-19 policy.

The VCOM statement summarized its coronavirus vaccine policy but did not provide a copy of the policy or detailed details.

In his letter to medical school, Landry objected to the VCOM exemption or waiver process.

The VCOM waiver process also raises red flags as it appears to have been structured to deny waivers rather than providing a meaningful mechanism to notify the school of a student’s choice to opt out, Landry said.

The VCOM exemptions for students with a valid medical or religious conflict are sub-inclusive, but also frivolous and meaningless because VCOM has designed a system that appears to be entirely designed to override any objection.

In its statement, VCOM noted that COVID-19 infections were on the rise again.

Although all of the studies needed to withdraw the vaccine from emergency use authorization have not yet been completed, the increased number of people who received the vaccine compared to previous trials indicates that studies are very likely of the FDA will be released this fall, well ahead of the planned January 2022 date, VCOM said. To date, the safety of the vaccine far outweighs the risk of complications from the infection.

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