States With Religious and Philosophical Exemptions From School Grabenstein, John D. 2013. This is a shift that has serious consequences for public health and, more broadly, the public good. Ann. For example, a 2018 study in the Journal of Medical Ethics finds that employees sought religious exemptions to a Cincinnati hospitals flu vaccine mandate for various reasons, including concerns about the benefit of the vaccine. I have also tried to argue, however, that it is not just policymaking and the concerted efforts of public health leaders that are weakened by the unnuanced and ultimately poorly understood interpretation of the unchecked right to religious expression as reflected in the First Amendment. Such arguments are both theological and ethical in nature, often referring to communal norms and shared understandings of scripture, in general featuring no standing objection to vaccines, with only occasional caveats to known dietary restrictions (. Not only are religious exemptions typically not religious in nature, but they are not representative of the religious traditions they invoke. COVID-19 in rural America: Impacts of politics and disadvantage. This trend needs to be evaluated in a health policy-making environment in which, aside from COVID-19, we have also seen the resurgence of measles, and now polio, which had been absent for decades (, There is an additional reason to be concerned that this shift in our traditional system of checks and balances will make a difference in population health. ONLINE 59. In 2017 and 2020, the Federal Court of Appeals had cases involving two Pennsylvania hospitals that fired workers who refused to get a flu vaccine. Penn Medicine staff who are not able to be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons will be required to apply for an exemption, similar to the influenza vaccine policy and process UPHS has had in place for more than a decade. Among other things. Vaccination mandates are an American Tradition. Vaccine hesitancy is strong in some parts of the country. The concept of liberty is taken to safeguard individual freedom, but in the context of a pandemic liberty, counterintuitively, becomes an expression of tyranny at the level of population. 406 U.S. most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal. Medical exemptions for COVID-19 vaccines, explained - Inquirer.com Both workers claimed a religious belief against vaccines, but the court found the workers' beliefs were not religious, but medical, because they were worried vaccines would hurt their bodies. Now, a federal judge has granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Western Michigan University, a public school, from requiring its student-athletes to be vaccinated. interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. Earlier this month, the Los Angeles Unified School District became the first major school system in the U.S. to require students over age 12 to be vaccinated, the Desert Sun in Palm Springs reports. Reiss argues there are two major drawbacks to offering religious exemptions to vaccine requirements. This research received no external funding. 65 Hastings L.J. Workers, parents and others are gathering in Facebook groups that, as Mother Jones magazine reports, have grown from hundreds of members to thousands within a short period.