(CN) — The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday sided with Oregon in a lawsuit brought by current and former state prisoners who seek damages because they were given lower priority than prison guards to receive Covid-19 vaccines.
The appellate panel unanimously agreed that former Governor Kate Brown and the former director of the Oregon Health Authority, Patrick Allen, who were responsible for the state's response to the pandemic in 2020, were shielded from liability for the inmates' claims under the U.S. Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.
The ruling reverses a federal magistrate judge's denial of the two defendants' motions to dismiss the claims against them.
"The PREP Act’s provisions extend immunity to persons who make policy-level decisions regarding the administration or use of covered countermeasures," U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Sung, a Joe Biden appointee, said in the court's decision.
An attorney for the plaintiffs didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Congress passed the PREP Act in 2005 to encourage the development and deployment of medical countermeasures, including vaccines, during times of crisis by limiting legal liability from administrating such countermeasures, according to the ruling. The statute gives covered people immunity from lawsuits and claims for damages that result from the implementation of the relevant countermeasures.
This immunity also extends to claims for civil rights violations by state officials, the panel said.
The PREP Act recognizes that protecting public health in the middle of a pandemic inevitably requires hard choices, said Roy Kaufmann, a spokesman for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum.
"We appreciate that the Ninth Circuit has agreed with us that the federal courts are not a forum for second-guessing the state’s decisions about vaccine priority," Kaufmann said. "We will continue to vigorously defend the state’s power to address emergencies."
Thursday's decision in favor of Brown comes just weeks after a separate Ninth Circuit panel had ruled in a split decision that the former governor should be deposed by the prisoners' lawyers.
The lawsuit, filed in April 2020, was brought by six inmates at Oregon Department of Corrections facilities and the representative of a deceased prisoner’s estate. They seek damages for Eighth Amendment violations incurred due to the policies of Brown and other state officials the plaintiffs say failed to protect them from the spread of Covid-19.
“During the pendency of the lawsuit, thousands of people housed at ODOC facilities have been infected with Covid-19,” the inmates wrote in their sixth amended complaint, adding that at least 44 inmates had died.
The suit seeks relief for two classes: one composed of prisoners who contracted Covid-19 and another made up of those who died from the virus or from Covid-related complications.
The other two judges on the Ninth Circuit panel were U.S. Circuit Judge Johnnie Rawlinson, a Bill Clinton appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judge Carlos Bea, a George W. Bush appointee.
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