Oceanside High School vaccine case: Student barred from school over exemption fight

An Oceanside teenager will be barred from attending school starting Thursday, after the district denied her request for a medical exemption to rules requiring her to be fully vaccinated against hepatitis B and meningococcal disease.

The girl, 17, is a senior at Oceanside High School and has suffered from serious illnesses and adverse reactions to vaccines, according to her attorney, Sujata Gibson. Her family has argued the imminent exclusion threatens her mental and physical health. They are asking a judge to allow her to continue school as she has since Sept. 1, when the new academic year began.

But an attorney for the district has argued in court papers that the plaintiffs are asking the judge to “disregard the grave threat presented by an unvaccinated student in school,” as the high school has two pregnant staffers and at least one immunocompromised student.

The district has also said the denied exemption request failed to establish a medical “contraindication or precaution” that would qualify the student to be exempt.

Judge Gary R. Brown, of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, heard testimony Tuesday from the doctor who filled out the teen’s medical exemption form and from the district physician who denied that request. He had not issued a ruling as of Wednesday.

'I fear for her life'

The student, identified in court papers under the pseudonym Sarah Doe, was first barred from attending school in late 2024 when she sought to be exempt from receiving a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

In August 2025, Brown blocked the district from banning her from school for the 2025-26 academic year, allowing Sarah to attend classes while her lawsuit continued to be litigated in court. In June, that order expired.

Sarah's family then submitted a request for the 2026-27 year, this time seeking an exemption for both the hepatitis B vaccine and a second dose of MenACWY, a vaccine against meningococcal disease.

The district notified the family of their denial on Sept. 2, citing insufficient information to substantiate the request.

The case is being funded by Children's Health Defense, the vaccine-skeptical organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Michael Kane, of Wantagh, its director of advocacy.

On Tuesday, the judge also heard from the teen’s mother, who choked up talking about the impact the dispute has had on her and Sarah, who attended the hearing but did not testify.

The teen was dressed in a pink skirt suit. Many of the dozens of supporters at the hearing also wore pink, Sarah’s favorite color.

The mother, identified as Jane Doe, testified she is scared that in order to stay in school, Sarah might try to obtain the vaccines she believed would harm her daughter.

“She’s going to get hurt,” she said on the witness stand.

The mother recalled Sarah “broke down” when she first heard her latest request was denied. 

“I fear for her life,” the mother said in an affidavit filed the day before the hearing. “I do not want her to feel that she must risk her health to finish high school.”

Doctor questioned

In seeking an exemption since 2024, Sarah's family has cited certifications from nine physicians that the vaccination poses a serious risk to the teen’s health, according to Gibson. The district’s attorneys, however, have said the submissions were denied because they either failed to provide the proper form or establish a qualifying "contraindication or precaution" needed for approval.

The ninth form was submitted by infectious disease specialist Dr. Michael Miller last week and remains under review. Miller wrote it is “strongly recommended” Sarah defer both vaccines, citing multiple infections. He wrote that Sarah’s immune system was “completely dysregulated.”

The exemption request that was recently denied was issued by pediatrician Carlos Rivera, who testified Tuesday.

Attorneys for Oceanside have attacked Rivera's credibility, noting he is named on the state’s “school vaccination fraud awareness” list and the state has suspended him from using New York’s electronic database for vaccinations since 2024.

Rivera is one of 21 medical professionals on the state list that warns schools of practitioners suspected of fraud. Department spokeswoman Erin Clary declined to comment on the case, because it is an active investigation.

Immunization registry records show that Rivera reported administering no pediatric vaccines in 2019, the year the state ended religious exemptions to school immunization requirements, and then reported giving 111 vaccinations in 2020, 461 in 2021, 811 in 2022 and 1,757 in 2023.

Vaccine-fraud experts say that sudden increases in vaccinations following the end of the religious exemption raise red flags.

Lawyer Chad Davenport said in an interview with Newsday that Rivera denies falsifying any vaccination documents and the doctor said he didn’t do anything wrong.

Dr. Antwan Haskoor, who reviews medical exemptions for Oceanside, said Rivera’s appearance on the fraud awareness list “necessitated the school’s obligation to verify the information” the pediatrician provided on the student’s behalf.

Rivera wrote in a July exemption form that administration of the two vaccines would be detrimental to Sarah’s health. But the district argued that his submission did not establish that either vaccine would be detrimental to her health or that a qualifying "contraindication or precaution" warranted an exemption or deferral.

Rivera has also said he’s concerned the vaccination could interfere with efforts to determine the cause of Sarah’s illnesses.

Sarah had to take 18 doses of vaccines over six weeks after the state ended the religious exemptions, which she had until 2019, Gibson has written in court filings.

During and after that series, Sarah suffered a severe allergic reaction and developed severe, persistent medical problems including kidney issues, seizures, repeated sepsis and other symptoms that required hospitalization, according to Gibson.

Rivera testified Tuesday he did not examine Sarah before signing off on the form and did not diagnose or treat her. He described himself as a “consultant” who reviewed exemption documents issued by other doctors and took Sarah’s medical history from her mother.

When Brown asked him why he didn’t tell the mother to take the form to the specialist treating her daughter, Rivera answered doctors are “frightened.”

Rivera said he submitted the form for “moral reasons.” In an interview after the hearing, he said most doctors want to stay away from medical exemptions because they don’t want to find themselves in a courtroom like he did Tuesday.

“In this case, I was well aware that I was going to be here,” he said. “But no one's standing up for this child whom I truly believe had really, really adverse reactions.” 

Meningitis concerns

The Oceanside district has argued the plaintiffs’ latest request is “radically different” from the one Brown granted a year ago, according to a court filing written by attorney Chelsea Weisbord.

Weisbord noted the seriousness of meningococcal disease, which can cause meningitis and an infection can lead to death within hours, according to the state health department. The disease spreads in close quarters by coughing, sneezing and kissing and the vaccine is 85-100% effective at preventing infections with the four types of meningococcal disease that cause most cases in the country.

“The new application requires a new calibration because now Plaintiff seeks to endanger others with meningitis, a highly contagious and potentially fatal disease,” Weisbord wrote.

The state requires students entering 12th grade to receive a second MenACWY dose. Sarah received her first dose in 2021 and her attorney said her medical conditions worsened after that meningococcal dose. 

Weisbord also cited state guidance issued after Brown’s ruling last summer. A joint statement from the state health and education departments said schools are not expected to “blindly accept every medical exemption request” signed by a licensed physician.

The district argues Haskoor’s request for more information and supporting evidence was justified. Haskoor wrote that if a student had a severe allergic reaction after a previous dose of hepatitis B, he would need to speak to the treating physician and receive a medical record of the event. 

Gibson has argued that the district’s interpretation of the exemption requirement was too strict.

“The ability to request additional information does not transform the statutory physician certification into a discretionary, school-administered substantive exemption determination,” she wrote in court filings. 

After the hearing Tuesday, she said the statue is clearly laid out: “It says if any physician certifies that a vaccine may be detrimental, that child is exempt.”

Newsday's David Olson contributed to this report.