The Department of Veterans Affairs will not fight personnel on religious exemption requests for the coronavirus vaccine.
Secretary Denis McDonough characterized such claims as “self-executing,” and he said the department is not “going to challenge the legitimacy of someone’s claims to a religious [exemption].”
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He made the comments Tuesday during an event at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., according to Military.com, which also reported that the 5.6% of Veterans Health Administration employees, per McDonough, would amount to roughly 21,000 staffers. They calculated the data using the number who sought exemptions for the flu vaccine last year.
The secretary did note that there are some exceptions: those who serve vulnerable veterans.
“We may have so many people claim religious [exemptions] that we can’t safely provide care for veterans in those vulnerable situations — in which case, we reserve the right to deny religious [exemptions],” McDonough said.
Employees who don’t get an exemption and still don’t get vaccinated could be fired, the secretary added.
Nearly 321,000 employees have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday, while the secretary said 91% of employees have uploaded their vaccination status into the department’s tracking system.
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The VA’s plan not to challenge religious exemptions stands in sharp contrast to the military’s plans. The Air Force has not granted a single one, and its vaccination deadline has already expired. The department announced on Tuesday that there were 4,913 outstanding religious exemption requests.
The Navy, Marines, and Army have also not granted any religious exemptions as of late last month.
