Two students at the A.T. Still University's Missouri School of Dentistry and Oral Health in Kirksville, Mo., will not be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine after a lawsuit was threatened against the school, KTVO reported July 28.
Ashley Swanson and Sharon Murza reportedly requested religious exemptions from the mandated vaccines, but were denied by the school due to "unsubstantiated evidence." After the students requested what evidence was needed, the school informed the students there was not an appeal process.
An attorney representing the women from the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit legal organization that focuses on religious freedom, sent a letter to the school stating that denying the students' religious exemptions violated state and federal law and threatening legal action. The school then granted the students exemptions.