Shawn Fleetwood | The Federalist
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares delivered a legal opinion on Friday arguing that state universities do not possess the authority to require students to receive the COVID jab as a condition for enrollment or attendance of in-person classes.
Addressed to Gov. Glenn Youngkin, the opinion notes that while “Virginia’s public institutions of higher education are public corporations” and “are afforded separate corporate status,” they ultimately “remain under control of the General Assembly and may only exercise such powers as the General Assembly has expressly conferred or necessarily implied.”
“The General Assembly has [also] enacted statutes governing specific aspects of university operations such as student health. … With regard to immunizations, the General Assembly has made clear the immunizations that are required for a student to enroll in an institution of higher education. Under § 23.1-800 of the Code of Virginia, ‘each student shall be immunized by vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles (rubeola), German measles (rubella), and mumps’ prior to enrollment ‘for the first time in any baccalaureate public institution of higher education,’” Miyares wrote. CONTINUE TO FULL ARTICLE ON THE FEDERALIST
