This is a rather wild one
Swiss Guards leave corps in order to avoid Vatican vaccine mandate
Three members of the Vatican’s Swiss Guard have voluntarily left the corps after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, defying the Vatican’s mandate, AP reports.
Driving the news: Last week, the Vatican ordered all employees to get vaccinated or submit to testing, with the new policy going into effect on Oct. 1.
Employees unable to provide proper documentation will be considered “unjustly absent” and receive no salary.
The big picture:Â The Swiss Guards have been asked to be vaccinated “to protect their health and that of the others they come into contact with as part of their service,” Lt. Urs Breitenmoser, a spokesperson for the Swiss Guard, told AP.
Meh, just three, but, couldn’t they claim a religious exemption? They’re at the Vatican, after all.
Washington, D.C., city officials said nearly 2,500 health care workers have failed to comply with their COVID-19 mandate deadline requiring at least one dose of the inoculation by Thursday. Nearly 70% of those health care workers who have not yet been vaccinated have requested religious exemptions.
City Administrator Kevin Donahue said the largest number of exemption requests have come from the D.C. Fire and EMS Department, The Washington Post reported. About 267 of the agency’s some 2,000 employees have sought some type of exemption from the vaccine mandate, with the vast majority of that group citing their religion. All 20 requests which have been reviewed so far have been rejected.
Will that rejection of religious exemption lead to lawsuits, or the employees just saying “the hell with it, I’m moving, D.C. can deal with the staff shortages”? It might be lawsuits, because it is not that easy to move these days, not with the cost of housing skyrocketing. Also, it’s weird that a city that votes heavily Democrat has so many holdouts.
Donahue said 89% of all D.C. government employees had reported their vaccination status by Thursday afternoon, with 75% reporting that they were fully vaccinated. During a call Friday, D.C. City Council member Elissa Silverman suggested that the city health department might eliminate the religious exemption for the vaccine mandate, arguing possible abuse.
But members of the DC Firefighters Bodily Autonomy Affirmation Group, which is made up of members who hold Christian, Jewish and Muslim beliefs, insist that their requests for religious exemptions coincide with genuine expressions of their faith, which has comforted them during the pandemic. The group has retained legal counsel should their requests be denied.
Has the City Council read the 1st Amendment? Do they even care?
That mandate (for health workers) applies to some 82,000 licensed health care workers, not including fire department personnel, city officials said.
But just 51,000 licensed health care workers had reported their vaccination status by Friday morning – about 49,000 of which said they had received one or more doses of the vaccine, The Washington Post reported. Meanwhile, some 1,640 licensed health care workers reported that they had not started a dosage – and 75% of that group said they are seeking a religious exemption.
Strange that so many health professionals are holding off.
Donahue said each exemption request must be reviewed on a case-by-case basis under federal law, and there is an appeals process, WTOP reported. But firefighters whose requests are ultimately denied might face termination. Other health care workers might face having their medical licenses revoked. Those workers who might appeal the decision will continue to be subjected to weekly testing.
Taking away an earned medical license for refusing to take a vaccine that is essentially in the testing phase? Where we don’t know the long term effects, or, really, even the short term effects? I’m pro-vaccine, but, I understand their concerns.
Read: Vax Mandate: Swiss Guards Leave Vatican, D.C. Has Lots Of Holdouts »