Former Montebello detective sues city, alleging gender discrimination in vaccine exemptions
By DION HENNINGS
12 December 2019
On Saturday, a Montebello man has filed a lawsuit in his hometown against the city, alleging that it acted unlawfully by denying him access to his son for vaccinations.
The lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court alleges that the city, in its attempt to reduce the number of vaccinations given to children, used false information from parents to deny the man access to his son’s vaccinations.
The man was eventually allowed to take his son along on a scheduled date to be examined by members of the Montebello Health Department for a required immunization. Though the health department provided him with the paperwork required for his son to be vaccinated, the man claims that he never received it. The lawsuit alleges that this resulted from the city’s decision to keep only male children who failed to receive required immunizations despite the fact that the state had required its own vaccinations for boys. The man’s son was born with a severe allergy, and he requested his vaccines not be given at the same time as his mother because he would suffer severe, life-threatening reactions.
The lawsuit makes claims against the city of Montebello, Montebello Health Department, and four health department employees. They are all represented by the law firm of Shariq Rashid, which is the same firm that represented the family in a similar dispute with Calverton last year.
In addition to claiming that the city should pay the man for violating his rights under the California Constitution, the lawsuit also alleges that the actions committed by the city and health department were intentionally conducted to harm the man’s son.
The lawsuit states that the Montebello Health Department told the man to not have vaccines, yet he went to the health department anyway. The suit further alleges that officials with the health department stated that there are children who cannot
