NC Justices Rule Family Can Sue Over Unwanted COVID-19 Shot
The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday that a mother and son can sue a public school system and a doctors’ group over allegations they administered a COVID-19 vaccine to the boy without consent. The ruling reversed a lower court’s decision that had cited a federal health emergency law as a barrier to the lawsuit.
The case stems from an incident in August 2021, when 14-year-old Tanner Smith received the vaccine at a Guilford County high school clinic despite his protests. Smith, who had gone to the clinic for a COVID-19 test after a cluster of cases on his school’s football team, did not expect to receive a vaccination. He told clinic workers he didn’t want the shot and lacked a signed parental consent form. When the clinic could not reach his mother, Emily Happel, a worker allegedly instructed another to administer the vaccine anyway, according to WCCB.
