Faith-based COVID vax exemption: How easily can you claim one, and do some religions truly forbid inoculation?

More than 2,500 LAPD employees plan to seek a religious exemption to LA’s requirement that city workers get the COVID vaccine. That’s roughly a quarter of the department, and more than twice as high as the rest of the city’s workforce. 

A person’s faith is deeply personal, and there’s no real way for someone to prove what they sincerely believe. So what’s to stop someone from using a religious exemption even if they don’t really have one?

Credits

Guests:

  • Dorit Reiss - law professor at UC Hastings College of the Law - @doritmi
  • Curtis Chang - co-founder of the group Christians and the Vaccine; former evangelical pastor of the River Church Community in San Jose

Host:

Madeleine Brand

Producers:

Sarah Sweeney, Angie Perrin, Michell Eloy, Amy Ta, Rosalie Atkinson, Brian Hardzinski, Bennett Purser, Nihar Patel