What Vaccine Mandates Mean for Religious Objectors

As vaccine mandates become a reality, politicians, pastors and even the pope are speaking out against faith-based exemptions. But a recent Supreme Court ruling could make it difficult for the government to overlook religious objectors' concerns. The ruling, which came in June in a case brought by a Catholic foster care agency, said that, in many instances, officials must offer religious exemptions to laws that provide other types of accommodations. Nearly all vaccine mandates fit that description, since the government typically exempts people who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, said Robin Fretwell Wilson, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs for the University of Illinois System.