VA: Religious Exemption Requests for Vaccine Won’t Be Challenged

The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) will not challenge staff on religious exemption requests for the coronavirus vaccine, the Washington Examiner has reported.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough described such claims as “self-executing” and stressed that the department is not “going to challenge the legitimacy of someone’s claims to a religious [exemption].”

However, McDonough did note that Veterans Health Administration (VHA) employees who work in environments that take care of vulnerable veterans could have their requests denied, explaining that “we may have so many people claim religious exception that we can’t safely provide care for veterans in those vulnerable situations – in which case, we reserve the right to deny religious exception,” Military.com reported.

He stressed that employees who do not receive an exemption and continue to refuse to get vaccinated could be fired. – READ MORE