A federal judge in New York ordered a defendant to get vaccinated as a condition of her release from detention, saying it was a matter of public safety amid the pandemic.
The court ordered Elouisa Pimental to receive her first vaccine shot before her release from custody and a second vaccine shot during the following month.
“In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the danger to public health of choosing to forego vaccinations that protect not only the vaccinated individuals but the community as a whole, a condition of bail that is reasonably necessary to assure the safety of any other person and the community is to require that the defendant receive a COVID-19 vaccination before being released,” the court wrote in its three-page order. “COVID-19 vaccines are freely available in federal jails, and vaccination is vital to protect our communities and the most vulnerable among us from the worst risks of COVID-19.”
At least two Ohio state court judges have imposed taking the vaccination as a condition of probation, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported.