At just 16 years old, Sarah Doe is no stranger to pain, hospital rooms, or the complicated medical fallout of mass vaccination. But in a bitter twist, it isn’t her condition that’s sidelined her—it’s her school. The Oceanside School District in New York has barred her from attending class and participating in sports, not because she’s sick—but because she followed her doctors’ advice.
Now, Sarah and her mother are suing the district, alleging that its actions violate not just common sense and medical ethics, but also federal disability protections.
Sarah’s saga began after New York repealed religious vaccine exemptions in 2019, forcing families to comply with school-required immunizations. In a short two-month span, Sarah received 18 vaccine doses, which her mother says triggered a catastrophic autoimmune collapse—including Von Willebrand disease, kidney dysfunction, migraines, and sepsis.
Doctors advised her to skip the final two doses of the Hepatitis B vaccine. Blood titers showed no active infection—but that wasn’t enough for the Oceanside school system. Despite seven separate medical exemption requests, the school denied every one.
Even a CityMD doctor who refused to vaccinate Sarah—without knowing her full medical history—provided an exemption after seeing a concerning rash. That, too, was dismissed.
To date, Sarah remains healthy and Hepatitis-free. Yet she’s been barred from class since February 4, and kept off the flag football field—a sport she once excelled in.
“I was known for flag football,” Sarah told The Daily Wire. “And now it’s like, I’m like a nobody because I can’t be in school.”
Attorney Sujata Gibson is taking up the case, warning that districts across New York are usurping the role of medical professionals.
“School principals and superintendents are interpreting the law to overrule treating physicians,” she said. “It’s flat-out discriminatory and dangerous.”
Under state law, schools cannot exclude a student even if they have an active Hepatitis B infection—yet Sarah, who is not infected, remains locked out simply for declining a final dose on medical advice. According to Gibson, this makes the exclusion not just illogical but legally indefensible, potentially violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
The family has pinned hopes on a proposed bill, The Education for All Act, which would clarify that medical exemptions provided by doctors cannot be unilaterally overruled by school administrators.
“If Sarah had Hepatitis B, she could attend school,” Gibson added. “But because she doesn’t—and because a doctor said not to give her the last dose—she’s being excluded. It’s madness.”
