Does it matter if Dad is unvaccinated? Family courts have started to weigh in

LOS ANGELES — Flanked by their lawyers, the divorced parents hashed out an agreement outside the Pasadena, California, courtroom and returned to inform the judge: They had agreed their young son would get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Absolutely he needs to be vaccinated," Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Harvey A. Silberman said.

Then he asked the parents: "Are the two of you vaccinated?"

The mother said yes. The father said no. "Sir, you better get vaccinated," the judge said, according to a court transcript. "Or you could very well lose time with your child unless you have a medical reason not to."

As children and teens have become eligible for COVID-19 shots, divorced parents have clashed in court over whether to get kids vaccinated. In some cases — including the one