I have been receiving many emails, messages, and voice messages asking me how to fill out the vaccine questionnaire being emailed to the UC community. As per my practice, rather than answer specific requests, I am going to tell you in this post what I think you should do. It’s not complicated, and it won’t require any immediate action for most of you out there.

Here is the first and most important thing you should do now:

NOTHING. Do nothing for now.

I expect that we will know by next Thursday, October 22nd whether the judge is going to temporarily stop the flu mandate. In fact, we might even know one or two days before the 22nd, because in many cases, Superior Court judge announce what is called a “tentative decision” one or two days before the hearing.  A losing party has the right to “contest” a tentative decision in a “hearing” but in most cases, and especially a case like this where there has been much paper flying back and forth, it is next to impossible to change a judge’s mind once a tentative decision has been issued.

So, either the judge will enjoin the mandate, in which case, you won’t have to fill out the form because there is no mandate, or he won’t issue the injunction, in which case you will have to fill out the form.

So, how should you fill out the form then?

THERE IS A PLAN B

I don’t want to go into the details, but if there is a large enough group in the community and through coordinated efforts, I believe your objective can be achieved.

My advice to everyone in the UC community is to sit tight, do not complete the flu vaccine form until the judge makes his final ruling on the injunction motion, but be prepared to act quickly if need be (read, we lose the motion).

The preliminary injunction motion is just the first battle and there will be another one (if we lose) prior to November 1st, I promise.

Rick Jaffe, Esq.