By Guy Page

This July, the Vermont Supreme Court denied the Windham Supervisory Union was legally liable even though it had vaccinated a six-year-old student for Covid-19 without parental permission.

The Politella family is now taking their case to the United States Supreme Court. 

A U.S. law governing vaccination in a public emergency protected the school district, even though the parents explicitly prohibited the vaccination, and even after the student himself said, ‘Dad said no.’

That’s the upshot of a July 26 ruling by the Vermont Supreme Court in Dario Politella and Shujen Politella v. Windham Southeast School District. The ruling concluded Vermont court action resulting from a November, 2021 incident (as reported by Vermont Daily Chronicle) in which a first-grade student at the Academy School in Brattleboro was injected with the Pfizer BioNTech single-dose drug for Covid-19 at a school clinic against the expressed will of his parents. 

School administrators said it was a clerical error. The Vermont Supreme Court found in favor of the school district due to the 2005 federal  Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act), which provides immunity from liability (except for willful misconduct). 

Brattleboro attorney Ron Ferrara represented Tony and Shujen Politella and their son Leo in state court proceedings. Ron has been joined by attorney John Klar to file a Petition for Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court challenging the Vermont Supreme Court’s outrageous conclusion that federal laws shielding vaccine manufacturers extend to school officials who negligently or deliberately inject young children with vaccines. 

“Vermont public schools were ‘awarded’ monetary bonuses by the State of Vermont based on rates of vaccination – yet this child and his family are denied any recourse simply because the vaccine was experimental. This is not the only child that this has happened to,” Klar said. “Leo and his parents seek to prevent this double injury – subjecting their child to medical care they rejected, then denying any legal recourse for that wrong – from being inflicted on other families.” 

The Politellas have asked the United States Supreme Court to correct what they say is Vermont’s misguided misapplication of the PREP Act. The Politellas tell their story in a brief video accompanying a fundraiser for legal fees.

In a statement released today, Klar – author, former candidate for governor and state senator, farmer, and former full-time attorney – explained that “I have undertaken a Petition to the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the Politella family. I do not normally practice law. This is how I got involved.

“When I first read about the Vermont Supreme Court’s decision in Politella v. Windham Supervisory Union et al, I was shocked that any court would deprive parents of such a basic right as control over their child’s medical care. Tony Politella specifically requested that his son Leo not be vaccinated at the school clinic, and yet he was jabbed anyway. 

“The Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the federal PREP Act insulated the school and state from any suit for wrongdoing, depriving the family – and any other families similarly situated in the future – of the opportunity to find out what went wrong, or tell their story in a court of law. This is not what Congress intended when it granted immunity to vaccine manufacturers.

“Vermont claims to be the modern bastion of liberties, ensconcing abortion through the full term in its Constitution, as well as an amendment clarifying the end of slavery here. How, then, could the Vermont Supreme Court so completely ignore such fundamental liberties? Even if the Court correctly determined that the PREP Act applied, the US Constitution is a higher law and the violations of basic rights to bodily integrity of a 6-year-old should eclipse even the PREP Act. Instead, Vermont’s highest court hid behind the PREP Act and ignored constitutional rights entirely.

“This is why I found the case so upsetting. As a grandfather, I know I would be furious if one of my grandchildren were injected with an experimental vaccine after their parents had been assured they would not be! 

Klar said he reached out to Ron Ferrara, the Pollita’s attorney, and other potential attorneys to handle a Supreme Court challenge. 

“I found no lawyers who would take the case pro bono — for free. The Politellas lack the financial means to hire counsel, and lawyers can only take so many free cases. Ron and I agreed to keep the case moving and ensure it did not lapse — that is, we had ninety days from the Vermont Supreme Court’s decision to challenge it in the US Supreme Court, and we became determined to make sure that happened.

And so I agreed to work together with Ron Ferrara to file the Petition for Writ of Certiorari. We are concurrently raising funds to cover expenses and perhaps something toward legal fees. Our commitment to the Politellas is that this appeal will not cost them anything. We will keep that pledge.

Klar said revenue from the fundraiser will cover court costs which the family cannot afford and which attorneys are forbidden by law to pay for themselves. Funds raised in excess of costs will compensate the lawyers for their work.