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March 29, 2002

U.S. IMMUNIZATION NEWS

"Huckabee, Pryor Dropped From Suit Over School Shots"

Arkansas Democrat Gazette (www.ardemgaz.com) (03/28/02) P. B2; Yee, Daniel

Earlier this week, Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ordered the dismissal of Governor Mike Huckabee and Attorney General Mark Pryor as defendants in a lawsuit brought about by two mothers against state immunization regulations.  Wright determined that a suit naming the two officials would constitute a case against the state of Arkansas, and the doctrine of sovereign immunity protects a state from being sued in federal court unless that state waives its rights.  Mothers Shannon Law of Little Rock and Susan Brock of Royal, brought suit against state health and school officials when their applications of immunization exemption for the chicken pox vaccine were denied by the state Health Department.  They say denying them religious exemption violates their First Amendment rights, and Law, a Roman Catholic who is against abortion, believes that her children should be exempted from taking the vaccination because it was developed from the fetal tissue of two mothers who required medical abortions over 40 years ago.  Vaccine maker Merck & Co. has documented that no new fetal tissue has been required to continue the production of the vaccine since the 1960s.

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