Thursday, October 15, 2026
A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction requiring the Oceanside School District to accept a medical exemption for a 16-year-old Oceanside High School student — identified in court as “Sarah Doe” — allowing her to attend school this fall without receiving the third dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine.
The decision, handed down on Aug. 12 in federal court in Central Islip, comes after physicians who treated the student concluded that the third hepatitis shot could pose a serious risk to her health. The injunction is effective through June 30, 2026.
“This has been really traumatic and really hard on Sarah and her whole family, and we are all so happy that she will be spared further exclusion for this upcoming school year,” Sujata Gibson, the student’s attorney, said. “We think the judge made the right choice, and he made it for the right reasons, and this could help thousands of other children who are facing a similar unlawful application of the regulations.”
The dispute stems from whether the district could demand additional documentation or require its own doctor to review and approve the exemption. Oceanside officials had asked for proof of an adverse reaction before accepting the exemption, and the district’s lawyer told the court that the district physician wanted to see additional evidence.
“Our top priority is protecting the health and safety of all students and staff,” Oceanside Superintendent Phyllis Harrington said in a statement. “Following the rules governing vaccination for school admission is one of the ways we do that. We also rely on the expertise of our school district physician and the New York State Department of Health. This evidence-based approach has guided our decisions consistently. We will continue to follow this approach going forward. We are reviewing the decision with our legal counsel to determine the appropriate next steps.”
Gibson said that the school district’s request for extra documentation surfaced in its internal emails only the day before the hearing, and that the district “never actually asked the family for any further documentation.” New York Eastern District Judge Gary Brown disagreed with the district’s position, and relied on state law and the certification provided by the student’s doctors.
“The public health law is really clear … if any physician licensed to practice medicine in New York certifies that a vaccine may be detrimental to a child’s health, that child is exempt,” Gibson said. “School districts have no legal authority to override treating physicians.”
Gibson told the court that seven licensed physicians had certified that the student is at risk of “catastrophic harm or death” if given the third hepatitis B dose. Even a walk-in clinic, she said, refused to vaccinate the girl after reviewing her condition.
In court, Brown reviewed the medical records, and Gibson described Sarah Doe’s medical history as complicated: She developed serious health problems after receiving a number of vaccines in 2019, when New York state repealed the religious exemption. Those complications included episodic paralysis and severe anaphylactic rashes that medical providers warned could be life-threatening if she were given another dose.
Because the school district repeatedly denied some of the family’s exemption requests, Sarah attended the Long Beach school district for about 40 days. She has spent large stretches of time out of school, Gibson said, sometimes too sick to attend and at other times excluded while exemption paperwork was pending.
“I’m far more worried about non-qualified school bureaucrats making medical decisions for kids,” Gibson said. “I think this case solidifies what we’ve been saying for years, which is that school districts have no legal authority to override treating physicians.”
The state requires students to be vaccinated against hepatitis B to attend school unless a valid medical exemption is on file. The standard hepatitis B vaccination series is typically three doses, and Sarah had received two.
Gibson noted that the State Legislature and courts have previously recognized the low risk of hepatitis B transmission in school settings, and argued that it was illogical to exclude a child from school over a missing booster when a child with an active hepatitis B infection cannot lawfully be excluded solely for that reason.
The judge’s preliminary injunction allows Sarah to attend Oceanside High School without the third dose for the entirety of the 2025-26 school year. Gibson said that she expected the decision to help other families contest what she described as an unlawful district practice, and that districts that persist in demanding additional proof of the potential harm of vaccines may continue to face litigation.
Outside the courthouse on Aug. 12, more than 100 supporters — many wearing pink — turned out to show their solidarity with the student. Gibson said the turnout reflected broader community concern about exemption denials and disability and religious-conscience rights that she said are being violated.
“I should say, a lot of the families there … they were really looking up to her and crying,” Gibson said of Sarah Doe. “It was very emotional.”
