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New Mexico Governor Vaccine Class Action Lawsuit Overview:
- Who: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
- What: Gov. Grisham is being sued in a class action lawsuit for mandating state fairs goers be vaccinated.
- Where: New Mexico
Parents of kids who have raised animals to show in the New Mexico State Fair — but now can’t attend the fair due to a vaccine mandate — have joined a class action lawsuit against New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
On Aug. 19, Gov. Grisham was slapped with a class action lawsuit for issuing a public health order requiring that healthcare workers, education workers and anyone attending the upcoming New Mexico State Fair be vaccinated, unless they qualify for an exemption.
Registered nurse Jennifer Blackford and local mom Talisha Valdez filed a class action lawsuit against the state, saying the order violated their right to refuse a vaccine not fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
However, the vaccine manufactured by pharmaceutical company Pfizer has since been approved by the FDA.
Despite this, parents with children in the 4H livestock program who were meant to be competing at the fair have recently joined the lawsuit, saying it isn’t right that their kids can’t attend on Sept. 9, KOB4 reports.
4H is one of the country’s largest out-of-school youth programs, with programs run in various areas including livestock and animal sciences, camping and shooting.
Gov. Grisham’s State Fair Vaccine Mandate is Being Heavily Disputed
In the original lawsuit, Plaintiff Valdez —a woman who wanted to show livestock in a competition at the state fair, but who didn’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine— said she should be allowed to go to the event unvaccinated.
“It is my right to choose not to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and it is my right as a parent to refuse to have my child injected with an experimental [Emergency Use Authorization] vaccine,” Valdez said.
As her daughters are not vaccinated, and because of the health order, they cannot participate in the fair. Even if they wanted to get vaccinated, they’ve run out of time to get both shots, she said.
KOB4 reports that Valdez and her daughters have spent at least 150 hours working with the animals for the 4H competition, and have spent over $9,000. More than 35 other families are reportedly in similar positions.
However, the governor and health department have hit back, saying the Pfizer vaccine is now fully approved by the food and drug administration, so the lawsuit does not apply.
As of Wednesday, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for the State Fair is still in place, KOB4 reports.
This is not the only class action lawsuit currently pushing back against vaccine mandates. A class action lawsuit filed last month argues Michigan State University (MSU) employees who have already contracted COVID-19 and now have antibodies should not have to get the vaccine to return to work.
The plaintiff in that case, a university employee, alleges her constitutional rights to bodily autonomy and to decline medical treatment had been violated by the university’s vaccine mandate.
What do you think of this class action lawsuit? Let us know in the comments!
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