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   From: nobody@yamn.paranoici.org   
      
   Judges say district cannot only permit secular exemptions   
      
   A federal court temporarily blocked a California school district's   
   vaccine mandate the day before it was set to take effect after   
   determining the school unfairly denied religious exemptions.   
      
   The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Sunday granted an emergency   
   injunction against the San Diego Unified School District's   
   vaccination mandate for students 16 and older. The judges ruled that   
   the district's mandate must remain paused as long as it allows   
   medical exemptions for pregnant students.   
      
   The court will soon issue a full ruling on the San Diego district's   
   mandate. In a partial dissent, Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta wrote that   
   the district should not be allowed to deny religious exemptions   
   while allowing any type of secular exemption.   
      
   "[A]ny unvaccinated student attending in-person classes poses the   
   same risk to the school district's interest in ensuring a safe   
   school environment," Segal Ikuta wrote.   
      
   The Supreme Court in recent months has rejected a series of   
   individual appeals to COVID-19 vaccine mandates. On Monday, the   
   justices dismissed an appeal from Massachusetts health care workers   
   who said the state's vaccine mandate violates their religious   
   beliefs. The Court has yet to consider a case on public school   
   COVID-19 vaccine mandates.   
      
   The San Diego Unified School District board voted to implement the   
   mandate in September. Unvaccinated students would have needed to get   
   their first dose on Nov. 29 in order to be fully vaccinated by Dec.   
   20, the deadline set by the mandate. Any student not vaccinated by   
   that date would have had to attend school remotely.   
      
   The Ninth Circuit issued the injunction in response to a lawsuit   
   filed by an anonymous 16-year-old student. The student says the   
   mandate violates her Christian beliefs, which prohibit her from   
   taking vaccines developed using aborted fetal tissue.   
      
   Pfizer and Moderna used stem cell lines from aborted fetal tissue to   
   test their vaccines. Johnson & Johnson used aborted fetal tissue to   
   develop and produce its vaccine.   
      
   Paul Jonna, an attorney for the student, echoed the Ninth Circuit's   
   ruling.   
      
   "[The government] treated comparable, secular activity better than   
   religious exercise," Jonna told the Washington Free Beacon. "So if   
   they're going to offer secular exemptions to mandates they're going   
   to have to offer religious exemptions too."   
      
   The mandate also applies to school staff, who have access to   
   religious exemptions under federal law. The San Diego Unified School   
   District did not respond to a request for comment.   
      
   California governor Gavin Newsom (D.) announced in October that he   
   will issue a vaccine mandate for all students once the FDA fully   
   approves COVID vaccines for young children. San Diego Unified is one   
   of several California districts to implement individual mandates in   
   the interim.   
      
   A total of 621 Americans under the age of 18 have died from COVID-   
   19, according to the CDC.   
      
      
   https://freebeacon.com/coronavirus/federal-court-pauses-california-   
   school-districts-vaccine-mandate/   
      
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