COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada when vaccine mandates, there was an increasing amount of vaccine misinformation being spread on social media sites such as Facebook.

This misinformation has caused backlash against getting the COVID-19 vaccine and vaccine mandates. However, the greater danger appears to lie beyond COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy as studies have shown a decline in acceptance of vaccines in general. Put simply, because of COVID-19, parents are now more likely to leave their kids unvaccinated against other illnesses and viruses from influenza to measles. This has a severe impact on public health. As well, from a legal perspective, this may leave parents who leave their children unvaccinated open to liability (i.e. responsible in law) to third parties.

Why might this be the case?

Potential Liability of Leaving Your Child Unvaccinated

One would think that a parent’s decision on whether to vaccinate their children is a personal choice. However, by not vaccinating your child, you may be found having committed a tort. This may actually result in you being found liable if your sick child gets another child sick.

Under Canadian law, a tort is an act or omission that results in injury or loss that can result in a court finding fault against the person causing the tort. Tort liability usually arises from situations in which there is deliberate action (e.g. assault), or a negligent act (e.g. careless driving). If found at fault, the typical remedy is monetary compensation.

One would think that a parent’s decision to not vaccinate their child should not be punished because, ultimately, health is a personal choice. And to be fair, that is how Canadian law is right now. It would be very difficult right now to successfully sue someone. This is for a number of reasons. For example, there usually is no liability for choosing to act (i.e. there is no duty to save someone). As well, it would be hard to prove a particular unvaccinated child caused your child’s illness.

However, prior to COVID-19, legal scholars have suggested that a novel duty to act should be placed on parents to vaccinate their children or risk facing liability. After all, if non-vaccination causes disease / viral outbreaks, there must be a way to fund the financial costs? The legal scholars argue that, where an identifiable group of parents have chosen to not vaccinate their children, and therefore weaken herd immunity in that geographical location (such as a school or daycare), there may be sufficient policy considerations for a court to impose liability if parent’s choose not to vaccinate their kids and it gets other kids sick.

One major issue with this theory is that our governments allow for various kinds of exemptions (i.e. religious exemptions). However, with the global COVID-19 pandemic here to stay, our governments and courts may change their way of thinking going forward. There may be a time in the near future where our government and courts decide that general vaccination of our children is a public health and safety requirement benefiting the greater community. In that scenario, choosing not to vaccinate your child under an exemption would still be a personal choice you can make. But it also wouldn’t prevent you from being successfully sued and found liable.

What this means in plain terms is that you continue to choose not to vaccinate your children. You can choose to receive an exemption. However, if another child becomes ill with a preventable disease (such as COVID-19 or measles) because of your decision not to vaccinate your child, the other child’s parents may be able to successfully sue you, and to recover monetary damages for harm done to their child. In that case, you would not be able to say that your exemption from the government prevents you from being successfully sued.

Key Takeaways

While vaccine misinformation is widespread and parents may have genuine and/or legitimate concerns about immunization, it is important to remember how vaccination status affects other people in the community. Immunosuppressed or immunocompromised people exposed to preventable diseases by an unvaccinated child may suffer harm as a result. COVID-19 is still spreading around the world. The long-term health effects of getting sick with COVID-19 are still not fully known. This has pushed the issue of vaccinating our kids to the forefront. As a result, there may be a time in the future that parents of unvaccinated kids may be liable for getting other kids sick. These are important factors for any parent to be aware of before making decisions regarding their child’s medical care.

Looking for more COVID-19 articles? Read our post on the constitutionality of mask mandates.

DISCLAIMER: articles posted in this blog are for informational purposes only. It may not be up-to-date, is not intended to serve as a comprehensive treatment of the topic, and may not be accurate. It shall not be construed as legal advice. No solicitor-client relationship is established from accessing this website and/or webpage. Nothing replaces retaining a qualified, competent lawyer or other legal professional, well versed in this area of the law to provide you legal advice.