Pfizer submits Covid vaccine to FDA for approval, to distribute in December

Re:Pfizer submits Covid vaccine to FDA for approval, to dist... by ghaff on Friday November 20, 2020 @10:46AM (#25161510)

I actually don't think the federal government has the power to require it. However, private companies and schools can impose whatever safety requirements they feel prudent for their employees, customers, and students. Which may of course make life difficult for those who don't want to go along.

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Re:Pfizer submits Covid vaccine to FDA for approval, to dist... by gpm on Friday November 20, 2020 @11:13AM (#25161773)

State governments probably have the power to require it.

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Re:Pfizer submits Covid vaccine to FDA for approval, to dist... by ghaff on Friday November 20, 2020 @12:42PM (#25162837)

You may be right although I have a hard time seeing that happening politically. IANAL, but the relevant case law seems to be Jacobson v Massachusetts (1905) upholding mandatory smallpox vaccinations which AFAIK has never been superseded. [1] That said, the US Supreme Court also upheld a Virginia law that authorized the involuntary sterilization of “feeble minded” persons in state institutions in 1927. It's hard to imagine similar laws passing muster today, probably for 14th Amendment reasons.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449224/

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Re:Pfizer submits Covid vaccine to FDA for approval, to dist... by floatingatoll on Friday November 20, 2020 @11:27AM (#25161950)

The US federal government can require it by passing laws if they see fit to do so. Presumably the states with the highest Covid infection rates would fight it in court on some constitutional basis to avoid vaccination, and some armed citizens would kill medical personnel enforcing the federal directive, but none of that prohibits the laws from being passed.

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