Oceanside High School vaccine case: Student barred from school over exemption fight

An Oceanside teenager will be barred from attending school starting Thursday after a judge sided with the district, which had denied her request for a medical exemption from rules requiring her to be fully vaccinated against hepatitis B and meningococcal disease.

The girl, 17, is a senior at Oceanside High School and has suffered from serious illnesses and adverse reactions to vaccines, according to her attorney, Sujata Gibson. Her family had argued that the exclusion threatened her mental and physical health and asked a judge to allow her to continue school as she had since Sept. 1, when the new academic year began.

The family’ s request was denied Wednesday by Judge Gary R. Brown, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip.

In his ruling, Brown agreed with district attorneys who had argued that the teen's exemption request for the 2026-27 academic year was different from the one he granted a year ago, when the teen was seeking a waiver from the requirement that she receive a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

Brown said the d eficiencies in the teen's vaccination records were more pronounced this time and "the implication of the Meningitis vaccine along with the Hepatitis B vaccine increases the risk to the public.”

Meningococcal disease can cause meningitis and an infection can lead to death within hours, according to the state Health Department. The disease spreads in close quarters by coughing, sneezing and kissing and the vaccine is 85%-100% effective at preventing infections with the four types of meningococcal disease that cause most cases in the country.

An attorney for the district had argued in court papers that the plaintiffs were asking the judge to “disreg ard the grave threat presented by an unvaccinated student in school,” as the high school has two pregnant staffers and at least one immunocompromised student.

The student, identified in court papers under the pseudonym Sarah Doe, was first barred from attending school in late 2024 when she sought to be exempt from receiving a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

In August 2025, Brown blocked the district from banning her from school for the 2025-26 academic year, allowing Sarah Doe to attend classes while her lawsuit continued to be litigated in court. In June, that order expired.

Doe's family then submitted a request for the 2026-27 year, this time seeking an exemption for both the hepatitis B vaccine and a second dose of MenACWY, a vaccine against meningococcal disease.

The district notified the family of their denial on Sept. 2, citing insufficient information to substantiate the request.

The family's case is being funded by Children's Health Defense, the vaccine-skeptical organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Michael Kane, of Wantagh, its director of advocacy.

'She's going to get hurt'

Brown issued his ruling following a hearing Tuesday, in which the teen’s mother spoke of the impact the dispute has had on her and Doe, who attended the hearing but did not testify.

The teen was dressed in a pink skirt suit. Many of the dozens of supporters at the hearing also wore pink, Sarah Doe’s favorite color. 

The mother, identified as Jane Doe, testified she was scared that in order to stay in school, her daughter might try to obtain the vaccines she believed would be harmful.

“She’s going to get hurt,” she said on the witness stand.

The mother recalled her daughter “broke down” when she first heard her latest request was denied.

“I fear for her life,” the mother said in an affidavit filed the day before the hearing. “I do not want her to feel that she must risk her health to finish high school.” 

In their exemption requests since 2024, Doe's family has cited certifications from nine physicians that the vaccination poses a serious risk to the teen’s health, according to Gibson. The district’s attorneys, however, have said the submissions were denied because they either failed to provide the proper form or establish a qualifying "contraindication or precaution" needed for approval.

The ninth form was submitted by infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Miller last week and remains under review. Miller wrote it is “strongly recommended” Doe defer both vaccines, citing multiple infections. He wrote Doe’s immune system was “completely dysregulated.”

The most recently denied exemption request was issued by pediatrician Carlos Rivera, who also testified Tuesday.

Attorneys for Oceanside have attacked Rivera's credibility, noting he is named on the state’s “school vaccination fraud awareness” list and the state has suspended him from using New York’s electronic database for vaccinations since 2024.

Rivera is one of 21 medical professionals on the state list that warns schools of practitioners suspected of fraud. Department spokeswoman Erin Clary declined to comment on the case, because it is an active investigation.

Immunization registry records show Rivera reported administering no pediatric vaccines in 2019, the year the state ended religious exemptions to school immunization requirements, and then reported giving 111 vaccinations in 2020, 461 in 2021, 811 in 2022 and 1,757 in 2023.

Vaccine-fraud experts say that sudden increases in vaccinations following the end of the religious exemption raise red flags.

Lawyer Chad Davenport said in an interview with Newsday that Rivera denies falsifying any vaccination documents and the doctor said he didn’t do anything wrong.

Dr. Antwan Haskoor, who reviews medical exemptions for Oceanside, said Rivera’s appearance on the fraud awareness list “necessitated the school’s obligation to verify the information” the pediatrician provided on the student’s behalf.

Rivera wrote in a July exemption form that administration of the two vaccines would be detrimental to Doe’s health. But the district argued his submission did not establish either vaccine would be detrimental to her health or that a qualifying "contraindication or precaution" warranted an exemption or deferral. 

In his ruling, Brown noted the requests filed by both Rivera and Miller “do not appear to indicate a specific contraindication with respect to the Meningitis vaccine and arguably fail to supply sufficient information to support the claim that the Hepatitis B vaccine is currently contraindicated.”

Rivera has also said he’s concerned the vaccination could interfere with efforts to determine the cause of Doe’s illnesses.

Doe had to take 18 doses of vaccines over six weeks after the state ended the religious exemptions, which she had until 2019, Gibson has written in court filings.

During and after that series, Doe suffered a severe allergic reaction and developed severe, persistent medical problems including kidney issues, seizures, repeated sepsis and other symptoms that required hospitalization, according to Gibson.

Rivera testified Tuesday he did not examine Doe before signing off on the form and did not diagnose or treat her. He described himself as a “consultant” who reviewed exemption requests filed by other doctors and took Doe’s medical history from her mother.

When Brown asked him why he didn’t tell the mother to take the form to the specialist treating her daughter, Rivera answered doctors are “frightened.”

Rivera said he submitted the form for “moral reasons.” In an interview after the hearing, he said most doctors want to stay away from medical exemptions because they don’t want to find themselves in a courtroom like he did Tuesday.

“In this case, I was well aware that I was going to be here,” he said. “But no one's standing up for this child whom I truly believe had really, really adverse reactions.”

State guidance cited

The state requires students entering 12th grade to receive a second MenACWY dose. Doe received her first dose in 2021 and her attorney said her medical conditions worsened after that.

Attorney Chelsea Weisbord, who represents the district, cited state guidance issued after Brown’s ruling last summer that said schools are not expected to “blindly accept every medical exemption request” signed by a licensed physician.

The district argued Haskoor’s request for more information and supporting evidence was justified. Haskoor wrote that if a student had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose of hepatitis B, he would need to speak to the treating physician and receive a medical record of the event.

Gibson has argued the district’s interpretation of the exemption requirement was too strict.

“The ability to request additional information does not transform the statutory physician certification into a discretionary, school-administered substantive exemption determination,” she wrote in court filings.

After the hearing Tuesday, she said the statue is clearly laid out: “It says if any physician certifies that a vaccine may be detrimental, that child is exempt.”

The judge wrote in his ruling that school officials were “well within their rights to request further supporting documentation.” 

Newsday's David Olson contributed to this report.

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.