New York Governor to Fight Lawsuit Over Mandatory Vaccination

FILE – In this Thursday Aug. 26, 2021, file photo, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at an event in the Harlem section of New York. Gov. Hochul vowed to fight a lawsuit launched by a group of Christian health care practitioners who argue that New York’s vaccine mandate is unconstitutional because it lacks a religious exemption. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

A group of Christian health care workers have filed a lawsuit against the state of New York. New York has made it mandatory for health care workers to receive COVID-19 vaccine. The group’s argument is that it lacks religious exemption.

Thomas More Society senior counsel Stephen Crampton, who’s representing the anonymous group of nurses, doctors and other health care workers, said he’s confident the courts will find that people have a right to refuse the vaccine on religious grounds, even if they are part of a religious group that is endorsing the shots. The state doesn’t offer religious exemptions for vaccination requirements for schoolchildren or health care workers and has argued it isn’t obligated to do so for the COVID-19 vaccine, either.

– Ella Breedlove