8th Circuit denies challenge to Missouri vaccination form for school children

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled March 5 that Missouri’s vaccination laws for school children do not violate the constitution.

The case concerned a family whose three children were disenrolled from a Kansas City charter school after they declined to file a Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services form that would have allowed the unvaccinated children to attend. The family said the form violated their religious and free-speech rights. 

The 8th Circuit, however, said the form merely encourages parents to consider carefully their decision not to vaccinate their children. “It is the government’s message to parents,” not a form of compelled speech, the court said.

Similarly, the court said the form doesn’t make the plaintiffs “morally complicit in the production or use of vaccinations” and doesn’t require them to do anything that violates their religious beliefs or targets the plaintiffs for unequal treatment.

The ruling affirms an earlier decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri. Last December, the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District also turned aside a state-law claim against the school the family had sought to attend. The Missouri Supreme Court said in February that it would not review the case.

The case is B.W.C. v. Williams, 20-1222.

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