Tacoma pediatrician: We can promote COVID vaccine without sacrificing religious liberty

As a pediatrician on Tacoma’s Eastside, I have seen firsthand the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. I decided earlier this year to receive the vaccine, and it’s a decision I am glad to have made.

I spend my days in the clinic encouraging the parents and teenagers in my practice to also receive the COVID vaccine. And, for those who are vaccine hesitant, we talk about the specific data that support the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.

Despite all of this, I have deep concerns about the current approach to Gov. Jay Inslee’s vaccine mandate. To be clear, these concerns are not about the COVID vaccine itself. These are also not concerns about a vaccine mandate for healthcare workers; there is longstanding precedent for that requirement.

My concern relates specifically to the process that employers are implementing for religious exemptions for the COVID vaccine.

The state currently recommends that religious exemptions be tied to past decisions regarding vaccination. I work hard every day to help families feel comfortable with decisions about all vaccines, not just the COVID vaccine.

The implication that choosing to get any vaccine is a decision that then obligates you to receive every vaccine will lead to greater healthcare hesitancy among families who have both philosophical and religious concerns about vaccines.

Even more concerning is the implication that the state’s recommendation has regarding religious freedom. Since the founding of the United States, freedom of religion has been one of our core values as a nation.

In 1786 Thomas Jefferson helped author the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom, a forerunner to the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty. In that document he wrote:

“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened (sic) in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.”

This freedom was further ensured by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The current process for religious exemption in many workplaces across Washington is not one that seeks to uphold the religious liberty of the individual. Instead, it is a process intentionally designed to make it as hard as possible for employees to receive a religious exemption, regardless of the validity of their religious beliefs.

It is a process that is inherently biased against those who may be less educated or have more difficulty articulating their beliefs. And it is a process that puts employers, human resources professionals and legal representatives in a position to subjectively judge the closely held religious beliefs of their employees.

These individuals are simply not qualified to make that judgment.

This should be deeply concerning to every citizen, regardless of whether you are a person of faith and regardless of your position on vaccines.

Washington state officials must rethink the approach to vaccine mandates. As we seek to end the pandemic, we must do so in a way that continues to honor the longstanding, legally endowed religious liberty of the individual.

Continuing on the current path will devastate both our constitutional freedoms and our state’s workforce.

Dr. Lisa Friesema has worked as a pediatrician for 10 years at a federally qualified health clinic on Tacoma’s Eastside. She grew up in University Place, where she now makes her home.

This story was originally published August 31, 2021 at 12:20 PM.