An Oceanside High School senior was barred from attending school beginning Sept. 24 after a federal judge denied her request for a medical exemption from state vaccination records.
The 17-year-old student and her family had asked the court to allow her to remain in school while pursuing an exemption from requirements that she be vaccinated against hepatitis B and meningococcal disease. Her attorney, Suiata Gibson, said the teenager has a history of serious illnesses and adverse reactions to vaccines.
The family argued that excluding the student from threatened her mental and physical health and asked the court to allow her to continue attending Oceanside High School, where she has been enrolled since the start of the 2026-27 school year.
U.S. District Judge Gary R. Brown denied the request Sept. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip.
Brown’s ruling came about a year after he granted the student a medical exemption from receiving a third dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.
In August 2025, when the student was 16 and entering her junior year, her physician determined that she should not receive the third hepatitis B dose after she experienced an adverse reaction to an earlier vaccination. The Oceanside School District had argued that its physician needed documentation of the reaction before approving the exemption.
Brown ruled at the time that state law required certification from a licensed physician that the vaccine could be harmful and did not require the additional documentation sought by the district. The exemption remained in effect through June 30, 2026.
Hepatitis B if a viral infection that affects the liver and can be transmitted through contact with infected blood or other bodily fluids. New York requires students to receive the hepatitis B vaccine series for school attendance unless they qualify for an approved medical exemption.
This year, however, the district argued that the student’s current exemption request differed from the one before the court in 2025.
Brown agreed, writing that the deficiencies in the student’s vaccination records were more pronounced at this time. He also cited the addition of the meningococcal vaccine requirement, noting that “the implication of the Meningitis vaccine along with the Hepatitis B vaccine increases the risk to the public.”
The ruling means that the student will not be permitted to attend Oceanside High School while the vaccination requirements remain unresolved.
Last year’s decision drew support from more than 100 people who gathered outside the courthouse, many wearing pink, to celebrate the ruling that allowed the student to complete her junior year.
The family has maintained that the student’s medical history warrants an exemption, while the district has argued that the requirements are necessary to comply with state law and protect the school community.
