To Clarify: there are no religious exemptions to vaccines in California
There is some confusion spreading around FB, and I might be partially responsible for it, so let me try to clean it up.
First, there are no religious exemptions to the mandatory vaccination schedule for public k-12 students, and there are no religious exemptions for any vaccine for UC university students. As you all know, until SB 277, there had been a personal belief exemption for k-12. In all grade levels, including UC students, there is a very restrictive medical exemption to specific vaccines.
Janet Napolitano’s recent Executive Order mandating the flu vaccine (effective November 1, 2020) applies to all students, faculty, staff and all other UC employees.
All of these categories EXCEPT STUDENTS are accorded a “disability and religious accommodation.” This is not an exemption but maybe a work-around perhaps a mask, But again it does not apply to UC students.
I think I know why they gave this accommodation to everyone except students, and I expect to try to do something about it. I am reasonably hopeful that this executive order will not go into effect on its stated date, but that’s about all I can say for now. Stay tuned.
Rick Jaffe, Esq.
2 thoughts on “To Clarify: there are no religious exemptions to vaccines in California”
Will you be doing a post in the future (can you?) regarding other businesses and the ability to mandate vaccines? Trying to be out ahead of this issue and whether other employers are going to follow this trend in CA for flu shot, C19 etc and whether it is something they can do.
Thank you so much for this information! What about graduate students? We are students but also considered as employees since we receive a paycheck and we are entitled to other benefits such as worker-compensation. Are there religious exemptions for graduate students?