A sign at Grace United Methodist Church in St. Louis encourages passersby to get vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Photo by Daniel Shular, dshular@post-dispatch.com Daniel Shular
Katie Kull , Annika Merrilees
ST. LOUIS — As the St. Louis County Council prepared Tuesday to pass an ordinance requiring all employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, resident Zina Hackworth stood up and offered hesitant workers a solution.
“If you don’t have religion, get it now,” she advised.
Religious objections to vaccines, once used sparingly around the country to be exempted from various required immunizations, are becoming a more widely used loophole against the COVID-19 shot.
And its use is likely to grow with President Joe Biden’s sweeping new vaccine strategy aimed at more than 100 million Americans, including executive branch employees and workers at businesses with more than 100 people on the payroll.
In the St. Louis region, an increasing number of municipalities, schools, hospitals and businesses are requiring workers to get the shot. But many also allow employees to abstain for religious reasons and get tested regularly instead.
Maryland Heights and Webster Groves require city employees to fill out forms attesting to their need for religious exemptions. They caution applicants that they may need supporting documentation to back it up.
BJC HealthCare workers had a Sept. 15 deadline to be vaccinated or to seek an accommodation. The hospital’s Chief People Officer Jackie Tischler noted the same policy has been in effect for other required immunizations, such as the flu vaccine, for over a decade.
St. Louis University created a portal for students and staff to submit proof of vaccination or provide a reason why they couldn’t comply, said Terri Rebmann, an epidemiology professor and special assistant to the university president.
Meanwhile, some local religious leaders appeared eager to provide documentation for exemptions.
At Tuesday’s County Council meeting, Hackworth pointed to Matthew Sheffer, a pastor at Church of the World near Fenton, and told the crowd to visit him or other clergy to get an attestation of faith.
“To the roughly 4,000 employees in St. Louis County, I want you to know there is a religious exemption,” Hackworth said. “If you do not want to take this, this vaccine, get in touch with Church of the Word or any other pastor.”
Sheffer declined to speak with a Post-Dispatch reporter.
Across the country, workers have pushed back against vaccine requirements. About 3,000 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required COVID-19 vaccination. In Washington state, hundreds of state workers are seeking similar exemptions. And an Arkansas hospital has been swamped with so many such requests from employees that it is apparently calling their bluff.
The Bottom Line: Will lotteries and cash convince people to get their shots?Play Video
VACCINATION LOTTERY: Missouri has joined other states in offering lottery prizes for people who get their COVID-19 shots. Jim Gallagher is hopeful that the incentives will boost vaccination rates, but David Nicklaus doubts that they’ll have much effect. Video by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Religious, not political
The allowance for religious exemptions was enshrined in the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees who object to work requirements because of “sincerely held” religious beliefs.
A religious belief does not have to be recognized by an organized religion, and it can be new, unusual or “seem illogical or unreasonable to others,” according to rules laid out by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But it can’t be founded solely on political or social ideas.
That puts employers in the position of determining what is a legitimate religious belief and what is a dodge.
Many major religious denominations have no objections to COVID-19 vaccines. But the rollout also has prompted heated debates across the country because of the longtime role that cell lines derived from fetal tissue have played, directly or indirectly, in the research and development of various vaccines and medicines.
Roman Catholic leaders in New Orleans and St. Louis went so far to call Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot “morally compromised.” J&J has stressed that there is no fetal tissue in its vaccine.
Moreover, the Vatican’s doctrine office has said it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines that are based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses. Pope Francis himself has said it would be “suicide” not to get the shot.
Across the U.S., some public officials, religious and community leaders have worked to circumvent COVID-19 mask and vaccine requirements.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer has posted a “religious exemption” form on his church website for download, along with links for suggested donations to the church. The 29-year-old is also running for the U.S. Senate.
Lahmeyer has said on Twitter that more than 14,000 people have downloaded the form. He offered to sign the forms for anyone who joins the church and donates.
“We’re not anti-vaxxers. We’re just pro-freedom,” Lahmeyer said.
But obtaining a religious exemption is not always as simple as producing an internet document. Measles outbreaks in schools over the past decade prompted some states to change their policies. Some now require a signed affidavit from a religious leader. California got rid of nonmedical exemptions in 2015.
Jobs at stake
Private employers may also take a hard line. United Airlines told employees last week that those who obtain religious exemptions will be put on unpaid leave until new coronavirus testing procedures are in place.
Approximately 60,000 Washington state employees are subject to an Oct. 18 deadline issued by Gov. Jay Inslee: Be fully vaccinated or lose their jobs, unless they obtain a medical or religious exemption and receive an accommodation that allows them to remain employees.
As of Tuesday, more than 3,800 workers had requested religious exemptions. So far, 737 had been approved, but officials stressed that an exemption does not guarantee continued employment. Seven accommodations had been granted.
Once the exemption is approved, each agency has to evaluate the employee’s position and whether the person can still do the job with an accommodation while ensuring a safe workplace.
In Arkansas, about 5% of the staff at the privately run Conway Regional Health System has requested religious or medical exemptions.
The hospital responded by sending employees a form that lists a multitude of common medicines — including Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, Preparation H and Sudafed — that it said were developed through the use of fetal cell lines.
The form asks people to sign it and attest that “my sincerely held religious belief is consistent and true and I do not use or will not use” any of the listed medications.
“To the roughly 4,000 employees in St. Louis County, I want you to know there is a religious exemption,” Hackworth said. “If you do not want to take this, this vaccine, get in touch with Church of the Word or any other pastor.”
Sheffer declined to speak with a Post-Dispatch reporter.
Across the country, workers have pushed back against vaccine requirements. About 3,000 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required COVID-19 vaccination. In Washington state, hundreds of state workers are seeking similar exemptions. And an Arkansas hospital has been swamped with so many such requests from employees that it is apparently calling their bluff.
The Bottom Line: Will lotteries and cash convince people to get their shots?Play Video
VACCINATION LOTTERY: Missouri has joined other states in offering lottery prizes for people who get their COVID-19 shots. Jim Gallagher is hopeful that the incentives will boost vaccination rates, but David Nicklaus doubts that they’ll have much effect. Video by Colter Peterson, cpeterson@post-dispatch.com
Religious, not political
The allowance for religious exemptions was enshrined in the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which says employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees who object to work requirements because of “sincerely held” religious beliefs.
A religious belief does not have to be recognized by an organized religion, and it can be new, unusual or “seem illogical or unreasonable to others,” according to rules laid out by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. But it can’t be founded solely on political or social ideas.
That puts employers in the position of determining what is a legitimate religious belief and what is a dodge.
Many major religious denominations have no objections to COVID-19 vaccines. But the rollout also has prompted heated debates across the country because of the longtime role that cell lines derived from fetal tissue have played, directly or indirectly, in the research and development of various vaccines and medicines.
Roman Catholic leaders in New Orleans and St. Louis went so far to call Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 shot “morally compromised.” J&J has stressed that there is no fetal tissue in its vaccine.
Moreover, the Vatican’s doctrine office has said it is “morally acceptable” for Catholics to receive COVID-19 vaccines that are based on research that used cells derived from aborted fetuses. Pope Francis himself has said it would be “suicide” not to get the shot.
Across the U.S., some public officials, religious and community leaders have worked to circumvent COVID-19 mask and vaccine requirements.
In Tulsa, Oklahoma, pastor Jackson Lahmeyer has posted a “religious exemption” form on his church website for download, along with links for suggested donations to the church. The 29-year-old is also running for the U.S. Senate.
Lahmeyer has said on Twitter that more than 14,000 people have downloaded the form. He offered to sign the forms for anyone who joins the church and donates.
“We’re not anti-vaxxers. We’re just pro-freedom,” Lahmeyer said.
But obtaining a religious exemption is not always as simple as producing an internet document. Measles outbreaks in schools over the past decade prompted some states to change their policies. Some now require a signed affidavit from a religious leader. California got rid of nonmedical exemptions in 2015.
Jobs at stake
Private employers may also take a hard line. United Airlines told employees last week that those who obtain religious exemptions will be put on unpaid leave until new coronavirus testing procedures are in place.
Approximately 60,000 Washington state employees are subject to an Oct. 18 deadline issued by Gov. Jay Inslee: Be fully vaccinated or lose their jobs, unless they obtain a medical or religious exemption and receive an accommodation that allows them to remain employees.
As of Tuesday, more than 3,800 workers had requested religious exemptions. So far, 737 had been approved, but officials stressed that an exemption does not guarantee continued employment. Seven accommodations had been granted.
Once the exemption is approved, each agency has to evaluate the employee’s position and whether the person can still do the job with an accommodation while ensuring a safe workplace.
In Arkansas, about 5% of the staff at the privately run Conway Regional Health System has requested religious or medical exemptions.
The hospital responded by sending employees a form that lists a multitude of common medicines — including Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, Preparation H and Sudafed — that it said were developed through the use of fetal cell lines.
The form asks people to sign it and attest that “my sincerely held religious belief is consistent and true and I do not use or will not use” any of the listed medications.
In a statement, Conway Regional Health President and CEO Matt Troup said: “Staff who are sincere ... should have no hesitancy with agreeing to the list of medicines listed.”
In Los Angeles, police Chief Michel Moore said he is waiting for guidance from the city’s personnel department regarding exemptions. The city has mandated that municipal employees get vaccinated by Oct. 5 unless they are granted a medical or religious exemption. A group of LAPD employees is suing over the policy.
“I can’t and won’t comment on the sincerity level” of people claiming a religious exemption, the police chief said. “I don’t want to speculate. Religion in America has many different definitions.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti had a warning for those seeking exemptions: “We will not tolerate the abuse of these exemptions by those who simply don’t want to get vaccinated. To anyone thinking about filing a disingenuous exemption request, I strongly urge that you reconsider.”
Nassim Benchaabane of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
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