COVID vaccine exemption asks if state workers received medicine as an adult
Aug 24, 2021, 4:49 PM
A nurse administers a COVID vaccine at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
(Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)
State workers are now seeing the form they can use to request a medical or religious exemption so they don’t have to get a COVID-19 vaccination in order to keep their job.
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One of the requirements on the religious exemption form, as created by the state Office of Financial Management, requires employees to assert that they have a “sincerely held religious belief or religious conviction” that prevents them from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
The other requirement is to state that the employee has “never received a vaccine or medicine from a health care provider as an adult.”
In a statement to KTTH’s Jason Rantz, the governor’s office says: “The purpose of this question is to understand whether there was a history of declining medical treatment or vaccination based on an applicant’s religious belief. If they answer no, the HR professionals would engage in follow up questions to better understand the person’s history, such as demonstrating changes they have made as an adult based on those beliefs. We understand people’s religious views may change over time.”
The exemption form also warns that in most circumstances the specific agency will need to obtain additional follow up information about the employee’s religious belief.
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Governor Inslee’s vaccine mandate is for state employees directly under his control, which covers most state workers and workers in private health care, long-term care, and other congregate settings. K-12 educators, school staff, coaches, bus drivers, school volunteers and others working in school facilities at public, private, and charter schools are required to be vaccinated as well. All groups under Inslee’s mandates in Washington have until Oct. 18 to be fully vaccinated.
The KIRO Radio Newsdesk contributed to this report.
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