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LA School Dist rejects Jaco...
is like a medical treatment, not a "traditional" vaccine. This interpretation distinguishes Jacobson, thus presenting a different government interest.
Putting that aside, the district court held that, even if it is true that the vaccine does not "prevent the spread," Jacobson still dictates that the vaccine mandate challenged here is subject to, and survives, the rational basis test. The district court reasoned that "Jacobson does not require that a vaccine have the specific purpose of preventing disease." Reilly, 2022 WL 5442479, at 5 (emphasis in original). It acknowledged Plaintiffs' allegations that the vaccine did not "prevent transmission or contraction of COVID-19." Id. at *6. But it declared that "these features of the vaccine further the purpose of protecting LAUSD students and employees from COVID-19," and thus "the Policy survives rational basis review." Id.
This misapplies Jacobson. Jacobson held that mandatory vaccinations were rationally related to "preventing the spread" of smallpox. 197 U.S. at 30; see also Roman Cath. Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. 14, 23 (2020) (Gorsuch, J., concurring) ("Although Jacobson pre-dated the modern tiers of scrutiny, this Court essentially applied rational basis review to Henning Jacobson's challenge..."). Jacobson, however, did not involve a claim in which the compelled vaccine was "designed to reduce symptoms in the infected vaccine recipient rather than to prevent transmission and infection." Reilly, 2022 WL 5442479, at *5. The district court thus erred in holding that Jacobson extends beyond its public health rationale-government's power to mandate prophylactic measures aimed at preventing the recipient from spreading disease to others to also govern "forced medical treatment" for the recipient's benefit. Id. at *5.