Overview
- Tuesday the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously held that COVID-19 vaccines are "readily available" and that nothing legally bars doctors from giving them when medically appropriate, overruling a lower-court stay tied to the 2021 agreement.
- The opinion reverses the vaccine-based blockage that stopped the 2022 execution warrant for Virgil Delano Presnell Jr., whose execution was stayed less than 24 hours before it was to occur.
- Justices said the 2021 agreement required vaccines to be obtainable by the public, not approved for every age group, rejecting defense claims that lack of guidance for infants under six months left the condition unmet.
- The court did not set an execution date; it returned the Presnell case to Fulton County for more proceedings and noted that the prison visitation condition from the agreement remains unresolved.
- The agreement covers fewer than 10 of Georgia’s roughly 33 death-row inmates, so the decision mainly affects that small group and could prompt additional trial-court litigation before any executions are scheduled.