An estimated 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees cite religious objections to trying to get out of the necessary COVID-19 vaccine. In Washington state, thousands of state workers are seeking similar exemptions.
And in Arkansas, a hospital has been inundated with so many such requests from employees that it is apparently calling its beacon.
Religious objections, which were once little used across the country to exempt themselves from various mandatory vaccinations, are becoming a much more widely used gap against the COVID-19 trait.
And it’s likely to grow after President Joe Biden’s new vaccine terms covering more than 100 million Americans, including executive branch employees and company workers with more than 100 people on the payroll.
The administration recognizes that a small minority of Americans will use – and some may try to exploit – religious exemptions. But he said he believes even marginal improvements in vaccination rates will save lives.
It is unclear how many federal employees have applied for a religious exemption, although union officials say there will be many requests. The Department of Labor has said accommodation can be denied if it causes an undue burden on the employer.
In the states, the needs for masks and vaccines vary, but most offer exemptions for certain medical conditions or religious or philosophical objections. The use of these exemptions, especially by parents on behalf of their schoolchildren, has been growing over the past decade.
The allowance was enshrined in the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states that employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees who oppose labor requirements because of “sincerely maintained” religious beliefs.
A religious belief should not be recognized by an organized religion and may be new, unusual, or “seem illogical or unreasonable to others,” according to the rules set by the Commission for Equal Employment Opportunities. But it cannot be based solely on political or social ideas.
This puts employers in a position to determine what is a legitimate religious belief and what is a dodge.
Many major religious denominations have no objections to COVID-19 vaccines. But the deployment has sparked heated debates because of the long role that cell lines derived from fetal tissue have played, directly or indirectly, in the research and development of various vaccines and drugs.
Roman Catholic leaders in New Orleans and St. Louis went so far as to call Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 feature “morally compromised.” J&J stressed that there is no fetal tissue in the vaccine.
In addition, the Vatican’s doctrine office has said it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive research-based COVID-19 vaccines that use cells derived from aborted fetuses. Pope Francis himself has said it would be “suicidal” not to be shot and that he has been completely vaccinated with the Pfizer formula.
In New York, state lawmakers have tried to make the vaccine mandatory for medical workers, with no religious exemptions. On Tuesday, a federal judge prevented the state from enforcing the rule to give a group of workers time to argue it is illegal because it has no possibility of exclusion.
Andrew Kurtyko, a registered nurse, is among those who want a religious exemption from not getting the vaccine and is preparing to leave New York for Florida with his 18-year-old daughter, if necessary.
Kurtyko said the “draconian” vaccine requirements in the U.S. remind him of Communist Poland where he grew up before he and his family emigrated to the United States in 1991. He is a Catholic who believes fetal stem cells experienced- is in the manufacture of the vaccine. He said Pope Francis’ guide to getting vaccinated was “his own opinion.”
“My parents came to this country to live better and crossed the ocean,” Kurtyko said. “The least I can do is fight for myself and my family is go to a different state where religious exemptions are still respected …. Our rights are being trampled upon.”
In the United States, public officials, doctors, and community leaders have tried to help people evade the mask and vaccine requirements of COVID-19.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Pastor Jackson Lahmeyer offers a “religious exemption” form on his church’s website to download, along with links to suggested donations to the church. The 29-year-old is running in the United States Senate as a Republican.
Anyone interested can get the form signed by a religious leader or Lahmeyer can sign it himself if the person joins the church and makes a donation. He said more than 35,000 people downloaded the form in just three days.
“It simply came to our notice then. We are simply pro-freedom, ”Lahmeyer said. “A lot of these people who have signed … have already gotten the vaccine. They just don’t think it’s right for someone else to be forced to lose their job.”
But getting a religious exemption is not as simple as producing a signed form. Outbreaks of measles in schools over the past decade have led some states to change their policies. Some now require a sworn statement signed by a religious leader instead of an online form. California got rid of non-medical exemptions in 2015.
Some employers take a hard line. United Airlines told employees last week that those who obtain religious exemptions will be put on leave until there are no new coronavirus testing procedures.
In Los Angeles, police chief Michel Moore said he expects guidance from the city’s personnel department on how to handle exemption requests. The city has ordered city employees to be vaccinated before Oct. 5 unless they are granted a medical or religious exemption. A group of LAPD employees are demanding the policy.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti received a warning for those seeking exemptions: “We will not tolerate the abuse of these exemptions by those who simply do not want to be vaccinated. For anyone who wants to file a a naive request for an exemption, I strongly urge you to reconsider it ”.
In Washington state, approximately 60,000 state employees are subject to a warrant issued by Gov. Jay Inslee who is completely vaccinated on Oct. 18 or loses their job unless they obtain a medical or religious exemption and receive housing that allow employees to remain.
As of Tuesday, more than 3,800 workers had applied for religious exemptions. So far, 737 have been approved, but officials stressed that an exemption does not guarantee job continuity.
Once the exemption is approved, each agency must assess whether the employee can still do the job with accommodation while ensuring a secure job. So far seven accommodations have been granted.
Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee said the process “can help distinguish between a sincerely maintained personal belief and a sincere religious belief.”
In Arkansas, about 5% of staff in the privately run Conway regional health system have applied for religious or medical exemptions.
The hospital responded by sending employees a form listing a large number of common medications, including Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, Preparation H, and Tumors, which they said were developed or tested using fetal cell lines. .
The form asks people to sign it and prove that “my sincerely held religious belief is consistent and true and I do not use or will use” any of the indicated medications.
In a statement, Conway Regional Health President and CEO Matt Troup said, “Sincere staff … should not hesitate to accept the list of drugs listed.”
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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Carla K. Johnson, Ricardo Alonzo-Zaldivar Sean Murphy, Stefanie Dazio, Brady McCombs, and Rachel La Corte contributed to this report.