An employee for the University of Virginia was fired after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons.
The employee said the “presence of and use of immortalized human cell lines taken against the will of the person aborted, having been used in the development of vaccinations, violates my sincere and firm beliefs that participation in the vaccination mandate is an indirect engagement and participation in abortion.”
Kaycee McCoy, a cytotechnologist, was denied a religious exemption to the university’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021 and terminated from her job.
McCoy took to the courts, arguing that the university violated the state’s constitution, which reads that no individual “shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief.”
The university held that it has a right to object to McCoy’s sincere beliefs.
Judge Claude Worrell Jr. of the Virginia District Court ruled that the university wrongly judged sincerity of belief and violated the “separation of church and state doctrine enshrined in both the Virginia and federal constitutions.”
The judge then ordered McCoy to be reinstated to her position and awarded her damages equal to her salary plus interest for the time she was gone.
Reporting from The Epoch Times:
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, issued an executive order upon taking office in 2022 that said any "requirement of state employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccination and disclose their vaccination status or engage in mandatory testing is harmful to their individual freedoms and privacy." Mr. Youngkin ordered a halt to such mandates at state institutions, including state universities. The University of Virginia suspended its mandate for some employees but not workers in its health system
