Event Description:

This presentation describes the harmful effects of anti-vaccine misinformation, and addresses potential legal tools to respond to it, with a focus on tort liability. It examines several traditional and novel torts doctrines that can help counter it, offering insights in how the law can (or cannot help). It ends by addressing potential application to COVID-19 misinformation, especially that shared by anti-vaccine groups.

About the Speaker:

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss is a Professor of Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Increasingly, her research and activities are focused on legal issues related to vaccines, including exemption laws and tort liability related to non-vaccination. She published law review and peer reviewed articles and many blog posts on legal issues related to vaccines. She received an undergraduate degree in Law and Political Science (1999, Magna cum Laude) from the Faculty of Law in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She received her Ph.D. from the Jurisprudence and Social Policy program in UC Berkeley. She is a member of the Parents Advisory Board of Voices for Vaccines, and active in vaccine advocacy in other ways.