Religious Vaccine Exemption Stays for NY Health Care Workers

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that New York must continue to allow health care workers to seek exemptions from a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds as a lawsuit challenging the requirement proceeds.

Judge David Hurd in Utica had issued a temporary restraining order a month ago after 17 doctors, nurses and other health professionals claimed in a lawsuit that their rights would be violated with a vaccine mandate that disallowed the exemptions.

Hurd’s preliminary injunction Tuesday means New York will continue to be barred from enforcing any requirement that employers deny religious exemptions.

Hurd wrote that the health care workers suing the state were likely to succeed on the merits of their constitutional claim. The question presented in this case, Hurd wrote, is whether the mandate “conflicts with plaintiffs’ and other individuals’ federally protected right to seek a religious accommodation from their individual employers. The answer to this question is clearly yes.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration began requiring workers at hospitals and nursing homes to be vaccinated on Sept. 27 and more recently expanded the requirement to include workers at assisted living homes, hospice care, treatment centers and home health aides.

In a statement, Hochul said, “My responsibility as Governor is to protect the people of this state, and requiring health care workers to get vaccinated accomplishes that. I stand behind this mandate, and I will fight this decision in court to keep New Yorkers safe.”

The state has not provided information on the total number of health care workers who have sought religious exemptions.

The plaintiffs, all Christians, oppose as a matter of religious conviction any medical cooperation in the use of vaccines linked to fetal cell lines in testing, development or production, according to court papers.

Hurd also allowed the plaintiffs to keep their identities private by using pseudonyms such as “Dr. A.” and “Nurse J.” The plaintiffs said they wanted to proceed anonymously because they feared the risk of ostracization or retaliation.

Reporting by the Associated Press.