Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-03-30)

ByJoeNocera

Brynienv.

Daines,etal.

Case#8853/2009

N.Y.SupremeCourt

Can Health-Care Workers Be

Forced to Take a Vaccine?

①THEORIGINInlateMarch 2009 theH1N1virus—akaswineflu—firstappeared

inCalifornia.Withina monththefirstAmericansbegantodiefromthevirus.In

JunetheWorldHealthOrganizationandtheU.S.CentersforDiseaseControland

Preventionhaddeclaredit a pandemic.Asthedeathtollmounted,companies

scrambledtocomeupwitha vaccine.Byearlyfall,it wasready.

②THESUIT Dr.RichardDaines,a formerNewYorkstatehealthcommis-

sioner,orderedeveryhealth-careworkertobevaccinatedagainstthevirus.

If theydidn’tdosobyNov.30,theycouldbefired.TheNewYorkStatePublic

EmployeesFederationandthreenursesledbyLornaPatterson,anemer-

gencyroomnurseattheAlbanyMedicalCenter,suedDaines,claiminghe’d

exceededhisauthorityinissuinghisorder.Besides,Pattersonsaidata news

conference,“ittakesawayfromourfreedomofchoice.”

③THERULING OnOct.16,tothesurpriseofmany,actingJusticeThomas

McNamaraoftheNewYorkStateSupremeCourtissueda stay,whichprevented

Daines’smandatefromgoingintoeffect.Oneargumentthatappearedtosway

thejudgewasthatthevaccinehadbeenracedintoproductionwithoutproper

testing.Thenurses,theirlawyersaidafterthestaywasissued,“feelvery

stronglythattheyarebeingsetuptobeguineapigs.”

④THEOUTCOME Thecaseneverdidgettotrial.A fewweekslater,New

YorkGovernorDavidPatersonsuspendedthemandatoryvaccinations.The

reason?A shortageofvaccines.Thefederalgovernmentwasabletosupplyonly

one-fifth of the vaccines it had promised. In the end, swine flu made 60 mil-

lion Americans sick; there were 273,000 hospitalizations and 12,400 deaths.

But because this decade-old case was never resolved, we still don’t know

whethera stateofficialcanmandatecitizenstobevaccinated.Withtheanti-

vaxmovementbeingwhatit is,youcanrestassuredwe’llseemorecaseslike

thisoneassoonasa vaccineforthenewcoronavirusbecomesavailable.<BW>

�Nocera is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion

●Thatdidn’ttake

long:Amongthe2,421

peoplestrandedon

theGrandPrincessoff

thecoastofCalifornia

afterthecoronavirus

swept through the

ship, a half-dozen

have already sued

Princess Cruise Lines

Ltd. More lawsuits are

sure to come.

● TheTheranosangle:

OnMarch9, Fortress

InvestmentGroupLLC

suedBioMérieuxSA,

whichis workingon

a Covid-19vaccine,

claiming patents it

bought from Theranos

were being violated.

BioMérieux denied

the allegation. After a

backlash, Fortress said

it would offer royalty-

free licenses. So

Theranos’s technology

isn’t worthless after all.

64

ILLUSTRATION BY GEORGE WYLESOL

◼ LAST THING

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