(LifeSiteNews) — A New York high school student barred from class for refusing a vaccine her doctor recommended against can return to school this fall, a federal judge has ruled.
In June, the Daily Wire reported on the student, identified by the pseudonym “Sarah Doe,” who attempted to fully comply with school vaccination requirements after New York repealed exemptions in 2019, receiving 18 over a two-month period. However, she suffered a series of debilitating health issues from taking so many vaccines in such a short window, prompting doctors to recommend she forego the final dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine.
Yet Oceanside School District refused to accommodate her, ultimately rejecting seven medical exemptions affirmed by doctors yet refusing to have its own medical staff examine her themselves. Doe was barred from school in February, and the family filed its lawsuit against Oceanside in April, alleging the district was in violation of the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
This week, Judge Gary Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a temporary injunction against the school district, ensuring Doe can re-enroll for the upcoming school year, Newsday reports.
The family said that Sarah faced serious medical risk from the shot and that she did not pose a risk of transmitting Hepatitis B to others at school. Brown agreed the family was likely to prevail on the merits. Under his order, Oceanside cannot bar her from school unless the court ultimately decides against her. The school district has not yet confirmed if it intends to appeal.
HISTORIC FEDERAL COURT RULING IN NY!
Sarah Doe WINS!!!
16-year-old Sarah Doe must be allowed back to school this September.
Her medical exemption to vaccination is granted in federal court today.
Case backed by @ChildrensHD
Here is Sarah in front of the courthouse pic.twitter.com/qcMintC9i0
— Teachers for Choice (@teacher_choice) August 12, 2025
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) CEO Mary Holland, whose organization funded the lawsuit, said the ruling “sends a message around the country — vaccine injury is real, and medical exemptions from licensed treating physicians are final. No more bureaucratic second-guessing, putting children’s lives at risk.”
The past four years have seen a renewed critical look by many at conventional vaccines and the laws governing them, provoked by the federal government’s lack of transparency regarding the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 shots that were developed and reviewed in a fraction of the time vaccines usually take under the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed initiative.
Attempts to mandate the shots also reignited awareness of the use of cells derived from aborted babies in vaccine development and testing, raising moral objections. In many states and under the Biden administration, neither health nor moral concerns were enough to stop authorities from attempting to mandate the shots, further intensifying anti-vaccine sentiment.
