FACT CHECK: Did The Supreme Court ‘Cancel’ Universal Vaccination?

A post shared on Facebook claims the Supreme Court of the United States “canceled” universal vaccination.

Verdict: False

The Supreme Court has not ruled on or canceled universal vaccination.

Fact Check:

“In the United States, the Supreme Court has canceled universal vaccination,” the post reads. “Bill Gates, US Chief Infectious Disease Specialist Fauci, and Big Pharma have lost a lawsuit in the US Supreme Court, failing to prove that all of their vaccines over the past 32 years have been safe for the health of citizens! The lawsuit was filed by a group of scientists led by Senator Kennedy.”

There is, however, no indication the Supreme Court “canceled universal vaccination” in a ruling. A search through the Supreme Court’s recent opinions showed no case regarding universal vaccines. Check Your Fact also looked through the Supreme Court’s docket and did not find any case mentioning such a thing. Nor was there a case mentioning both Gates and Fauci.

Had a lawsuit filed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. against Gates and Fauci led to the Supreme Court deciding against universal vaccines, media outlets would have reported on it, yet none have done so. (RELATED: Did Pfizer Create A COVID-19 Vaccine ‘Vaporizer Cartridge’?)

In 1905, the Supreme Court ruled in Jacobson v. Massachusetts that state laws requiring vaccines do not violate the 14th Amendment, according to the Constitution Center. The court in 1922 upheld the ruling in Zucht v. King, a case about school districts mandating vaccines for school children, per the Constitution Center.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated that employers can require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine, though there are medical and religious exemptions, according to NPR. The EEOC also allowed companies to require flu shots and other vaccines, the outlet reported. A 2019 Congressional Research Service report found that all states and the District of Columbia require specific vaccines for school children, with some states allowing exemptions.

Additionally, Kennedy is not a senator, further adding to the post’s dubiousness. He is a lawyer who has previously published misinformation about vaccines, according to the Associated Press.

The Facebook post appears to reference a baseless claim that has been circulating since at least 2019. Anti-vaccine group Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) in 2018 filed a Freedom of Information lawsuit, handled by the Southern District of New York, asking the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for vaccine safety reports, according to AFP. When HHS said the reports couldn’t be found, ICAN erroneously claimed the agency had not studied vaccine side effects for 30 years, the outlet reported. PolitiFact debunked the claim that HHS admitted it failed to monitor vaccine side effects and safety in 2019.

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