A healthcare worker at Long Beach’s Department of Health and Human Services COVID-19 vaccination clinic on July 6. Policies requiring vaccination against COVID-19 need not include, and should not include, exceptions for those who have religious objections to vaccinations. Many universities, including the University of California, are requiring vaccination for all students, staff and faculty returning to campus. Many employers, public and private, are doing so as well. These policies are essential to protect public health. The virulent Delta variant of the coronavirus has made it imperative to ensure vaccination of as many people as possible. Unfortunately, though, many of these policies have an exception for those who have a religious objection to vaccination. These are neither required by the law nor are they desirable as a matter of policy because they make it possible for anyone to circumvent the vaccine mandate. The UC’s mandatory vaccination policy, for example, has an exception for those who object on religious grounds. It states that this is because the law requires such an exemption, declaring: “The University is required by law to offer reasonable accommodations to … employees who object to vaccination based on their sincerely-held religious belief, practice, or observance.” This […]
