OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – Kaiser Permanente says vaccines offer the best protection against COVID-19 – an argument it hopes offers the best protection against a lawsuit brought by its employees.
Sued by doctors and nurses over its Aug. 2 vaccine mandate, Kaiser Permanente on Nov. 3 filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in Oakland, Calif., federal court. It attempts to poke holes in the plaintiffs’ claims their rights to due process, equal protection and religious liberty are being violated.
An injunction against the policy would “needlessly” put the health care system’s 12.5 million members and 216,000 employees at increased risk of serious disease and death, it says.
“This unconscionable effort is based on baseless, conspiratorial allegations and frivolous legal theories. The court should dismiss the complaint with prejudice,” lawyers for KP wrote.
Anyone who doesn't get the vaccination will be terminated from Kaiser Permanente no later than Dec. 30, 2021. Plaintiffs allege that not only is the vaccination not needed, but it is against their religious freedoms, it is an invasion of privacy and it violates other U.S. Constitutional rights.
Plaintiffs allege that a vaccination mandate cannot be supported when more than 99.8% of those infected with COVID-19 survive and obtain a natural immunity that is superior to the vaccine-induced immunity, the vaccines are ineffective against the Delta strain, the CDC Director acknowledged that the COVID vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission of COVID-19 and the vaccine only reduces the symptoms.
Anyone who doesn't get the vaccination will be terminated from Kaiser Permanente no later than Dec. 30, 2021, according to the CEO who gave the date in a press release. Plaintiffs allege that not only is the vaccination not needed, but it is against their religious freedoms, it is an invasion of privacy and it violates other U.S. Constitutional rights.
The suit also says KP “deliberately caused” the mandates for health care workers subsequently imposed by the State of California and the federal government.
“This flawed ‘state actor’ theory is fatal to the Section 1983 claims. Courts have firmly rejected arguments that private entities are ‘state actors’ when they require COVID-19 vaccines for their employees,” the motion says.
“Instead, Plaintiffs rely on bizarre, conspiratorial allegations that Kaiser Permanente is a state actor because it ‘caused’ federal and state officials, all the way up to the President, to impose vaccine mandates.
“But the Complaint offers no plausible basis for these allegations, identifying only routine interactions between Kaiser Permanente and officials regarding salutary efforts to combat the third-leading cause of death in the United States in 2020.”