The State Law Being Cited in Anti-Vax Cases
A health care employee in Peoria receives the COVID-19 vaccine earlier this year. Some health care and school workers across the state are using a little-known state law to argue vaccine mandates violate the law.
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Numerous school employees and health care employees around the state are challenging Governor JB Pritzker’s vaccination mandates. From the Daily Herald:
Four employees in St. Charles Unit District 303 and Geneva Unit District 304 say their employers have no legal right to require them to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or tested.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker's mandate specified workers had to have received at least the first dose of a vaccine by Sunday. If they didn't, they would have to submit to weekly testing.
In the complaint filed against the districts and their superintendents, the four contend the school districts are interfering with their rights by enforcing a "modified quarantine" that was mandated by the governor's executive order.
They maintain that the governor has no authority to impose a modified quarantine, and that only the local health department or the Illinois Department of Public Health has that authority.
The order then can "either be submitted to voluntarily by the subject or objected to. And if it's objected to, the department of public health has to go to the court and obtain a judicial order of quarantine against that individual," said their attorney, Patrick Walsh.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office, which provides legal defense for the Governor, has yet to provide The Illinoize with many cases had been filed against the administration statewide.
Many of the cases seemingly cite a 1998 law known as the “Health Care Right of Conscience Act” as part of their argument against the mandate. The law provides government can’t force medical treatment on any employees.
From statute:
“It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution, or public official to discriminate against any person in any manner, including but not limited to, licensing, hiring, promotion, transfer, staff appointment, hospital, managed care entity, or any other privileges, because of such person's conscientious refusal to receive, obtain, accept, perform, assist, counsel, suggest, recommend, refer or participate in any way in any particular form of health care services contrary to his or her conscience.”
Pritzker was asked about the arguments earlier this week at an unrelated event in Peoria.
“What we’ve put in place is something that is workable, something that the vast majority of people are going to be following,” Pritzker said. “I know there are people who are attempting to challenge these things in court. I would just say that this is a very unhelpful thing to do and it is going to make schools and health care settings less safe.”
Many lawmakers and advocates The Illinoize has spoken with assume the Attorney General will argue mandatory testing is the workaround to the law. Meanwhile, some anti-mask advocates have won court cases downstate fighting quarantine rules after students are exposed to COVID-19.