He says vaccine concerns are something that some people are struggling with, among many other questions in their lives. "So how do we seek principles and use wisdom to apply rightly, how someone needs to live in their consciences, but not in a way that's silly?" "Obviously, scripture does not talk about vaccines," he says, laughing. Politics Why Biden Has Taken Up Vaccine Mandates And The Political Fight Over Them You had people on both sides with the measles." It wasn't a Republican versus Democrat issue. In those cases, she says, "it was political, yes, but it was not a red versus blue issue. When Kieffer started her research, she was originally looking at measles outbreaks in places where parents had opted out from school-required vaccinations. A tension between religious freedom and public safety "Those factors can include whether the employee's behavior is inconsistent with the professed belief the accommodation constitutes a desirable benefit likely to be sought for secular reasons the timing of the request renders it suspect or the employer has an objective reason to believe the accommodation is not sought for religious reasons," she explains.Įmployers can request additional information from the employee, such as asking whether they take other medicines that also used fetal cells in their development, like Tylenol or Motrin. Genderson says that according to federal guidance and previous court decisions, employers may consider several factors when assessing the sincerity of a religious belief. There's no way to judge that as religious or not, or as sincere or not," says Kira Ganga Kieffer, a doctoral candidate in religious studies at Boston University, where she's writing a book on vaccine skepticism in America.īut there is a legal basis for employers to assess sincerely held religious belief. "Sincerity is like, what's true in your heart. "Employers are being flooded with these requests, and are having to evaluate them in large numbers," says Alana Genderson, an attorney specializing in labor and employment law at the firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.īecause employers are wary of wading into assessing questions of religion and personal belief, Genderson says "employers feel more comfortable judging undue hardship, and whether there is an accommodation where the person would not be a direct threat to others." The Pope has declared getting vaccinated "an act of love." Evaluating requests for religious exemptions is thorny Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and the Catholic Church have all issued statements saying that their religion does not prohibit members from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. No major religion has come out in opposition to the COVID-19 vaccines. The health care system says more than 95% of its employees are now vaccinated, with 5% exempt for religious or medical reasons. Last month, Valley Health terminated the employment of 72 employees, out of a workforce of more 6,000, due to noncompliance with its vaccine mandate. Hart and Watson say others they know had their exemption requests rejected. Literally nothing has changed, which makes me even more suspicious, because if I was that much of a menace to society, you'd think that they would have to change the rules and make me do something differently." I'm wearing my same masks, I'm following the same rules. I'm seeing the same patients," Hart says. "I went back to work and literally nothing has changed. They applied for and received religious exemptions.
Valley Health did approve her religious exemption, but Watson has decided to look for a job elsewhere.īrittany Watson and Katherine Hart protested their employer's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Fetal cell lines were used in the vaccines' development, as they commonly are in developing new pharmaceuticals.
The vaccines themselves do not contain any fetal cells. The mandate is directly affecting my religious beliefs.' And that's it," she says. The vaccine is made from aborted fetuses.
The Bible tells you that your body is a temple. "My explanation was that 'Human life is sacred. She also applied for a religious exemption, signed by her pastor. Watson organized a picket line outside the Winchester Medical Center in protest of Valley Health's mandate. Whether an employer grants a religious exemption to a vaccination requirement is generally based on a judgment of the employee's sincerely held religious belief - and whether the accommodation poses an undue hardship on the employer, or would present a direct threat to health and safety of others. I've worked 18 months in the pandemic, and now I'm not allowed to work there if I don't have a vaccine." "I possibly would have gotten it if it wasn't such a push to get it," Watson says. Business Getting a religious exemption to a vaccine mandate may not be easy.