Vt. family sues school district over vaccination mistake

BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (WCAX) - A Brattleboro family is suing the Windham Southeast School District after they say their son was vaccinated at a school clinic against their wishes.

According to court documents, the clinic happened last November at the Academy School in Brattleboro. The complaint states that the Politella family’s six-year-old son was mistaken for another student and was vaccinated without the family’s consent. The family’s lawyer says after negotiations failed with the school district and the state, the family filed suit. The family accuses the school of gross negligence and says the vaccination caused great emotional harm.

“Bottom line is there has to be a remedy for this. It can’t just be something that happens and everybody says, ‘Oh, we’re immune, you can’t sue us for it,’ because that’s really not the law in Vermont,” said Ron Ferrara, the family’s lawyer.

The school district denies those claims but admits they made a mistake. “As soon as the school became aware that a student was mistakenly vaccinated, it notified the parents and it evaluated what went wrong. There’s nobody at the school claiming a mistake was not made,” said Pietro Lynn, the district’s lawyer.

The district filed a motion to dismiss the case. A judge is expected to rule on that motion as early as next month.

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