SCOTUS: Vax Mandate for Possible Health Reasons but Not Religious Reasons

Today, SCOTUS denied a temporary injunction against the Maine health care workers vaccine mandate that would have maintained the status quo until it could be heard in court. Andrew McCarthy writes about it here. Even though the rationale for a stay was strong since the complainants were likely to win on the merits, would suffer irreparable harm in loss of jobs and practices, and were simply asking for the status quo to continue while the case wound its way through the courts, six justices denied the stay.

Gorsuch dissents (with Alito and Thomas) and says:



Maine’s vaccine mandate … provides for individualized exemptions. Though medical professionals are not excused from compliance based on their religious beliefs, they needn’t comply if they get a note from a health-care provider claiming that, in their cases, immunization “may be” medically inadvisable.



As Gorsuch elaborates, this medical exemption is remarkably lax. There is no requirement that the note explain why the health-care provider believes vaccination would entail medical risk; nor is there any limitation on what qualifies as a valid “medical” concern. As Gorsuch tartly observes, “It seems Maine will respect even mere trepidation over vaccination as sufficient, but only so long as it is phrased in medical and not religious terms.” (Emphasis in original.)



We have been told all along that government was not singling out religion for disparate treatment and everyone was being treated the same (in spite of the obvious “in our face” evidence and in spite of the fact that most courts have found to the contrary).

And now we have explicit evidence. You can refuse a vaccine if a health care provider will say it “may be” medically inadvisable. It doesn’t require any supporting evidence. But you cannot refuse a vaccine for religious reasons.

How long until people acknowledge that religion is not and has not been treated equally in these matters? Will there still be those who claim that religion is not being singled out but rather treated just like everyone else?