Get the Covid vaccination or get fired — that’s the decision facing a growing number of North Carolina healthcare workers unless they can prove they qualify for a medical or religious exemption to new shot mandates issued by several hospital systems and the state’s Department of Health and Human Services.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, has heard from workers who feel they are being forced to choose between their jobs and their beliefs. And Mat Staver with the national nonprofit Liberty Counsel says his organization has been inundated with requests for legal assistance from VA employees, doctors, nurses, chaplains, college students and others facing vaccination mandates.
One North Carolina resident who reached out to the Rev. Creech for biblical advice said that he and his wife have strong religious objections to the vaccine “due to the use of decades-old aborted fetus cells in its creation.” He said his wife, a registered nurse for four decades, was hoping to work until age 65, but now may be forced to leave her job with Novant months before her 62nd birthday, based on the company’s vaccination deadline.
In addition to Novant, hospital systems compelling staff to take the vaccine include Atrium Health, Cone Health, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Duke University Health network and several UNC Health hospitals. The DHHS mandate was issued by the Division of State Operated Health Facilities and applies to “facility employees, volunteers, students and trainees” in addition to “contracted and temporary workers” at 14 state-run health care sites.
To help those with sincerely held religious beliefs against taking any vaccines, or taking those derived from aborted fetal cell lines or those sold by companies that profit from the sale of vaccines and other products derived from abortion, the Liberty Counsel has provided examples of exemption request letters. The organization says faith-based requests, as opposed to those based on health, vaccine ingredients or other issues, are the strongest.
Liberty Counsel leaders and the Rev. Creech urge employees facing a vaccination mandate to spend time in prayer seeking the Lord’s will and then act accordingly. If an exemption is needed, the employee may use the Liberty Counsel example as a guide only. The letter should be a personal expression of faith and should give a clear explanation of the basis for the objection and the requested reasonable accommodation.
According to the Liberty Counsel memo, “The existence of COVID-19 does not justify the numerous violations of fundamental individual, economic and religious liberties. These include the rights of personal autonomy and bodily integrity, and the right to accept or reject the various COVID vaccines based on religious belief or other grounds.”
If you, a family member, a Christian friend, or some other person you know is facing termination of employment, or another hardship, because they are being forced by their employer to take the COVID vaccine, access the two documents on the Liberty Counsel website titled “Memo on COVID Vaccination Mandates” and “Sample Religious Exemption Requests for COVID Shot Mandates.”
Read them carefully. They provide critical information to help with the crisis.