Anti vaccine mandate rally in New York City in October. Photo: Steve Sanchez via Shutterstock
Universities continue to face a host of challenges navigating complications arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them is how to best implement student vaccine mandates in order to foster a safe environment for in-person learning. In this area, student requests for religious exemptions from vaccination—a commonly offered exception to campus-wide vaccine mandates—present particularly thorny questions, and fodder for particularly spirited debate, as public health, philosophical, legal and faith-based considerations directly collide.
While New York courts have not squarely addressed the parameters for these inquiries in any definitive manner, related cases decided in differing contexts provide useful guidance as university administrators and advisors seek to differentiate the true religious observer from the exemption candidate motivated by concerns unrelated to faith.
