The Department of Health and Human Services issued a letter notifying state awardees of the Vaccines for Children Program (VCP) that participants must honor religious exemptions from vaccine mandates.
“Today’s letter makes clear that providers must respect state laws protecting religious and conscience-based exemptions to vaccine mandates,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement. “States have the authority to balance public health goals with individual freedom, and honoring those decisions builds trust. Protecting both public health and personal liberty is how we restore faith in our institutions and Make America Healthy Again.”
The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) wrote in the letter that “states and participating providers assistance and support in their good faith efforts to operate VCP programs in compliance with the law,” HHS explained.
“By specifically mandating that a state’s plan for administering Medicaid must respect state laws regarding religious exemptions, Congress recognized the importance of Americans’ religious convictions regarding vaccines and laws protecting such,” the letter says. “VCP providers are responsible for following state laws ‘relating to’ religious and other exemptions to vaccination laws. Express religious exemptions contained in compulsory vaccination statutes are examples of such laws; so, too, are state statutes that mirror the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).”
The letter follows a similar notice sent to West Virginia health departments on August 21 that reminded them to honor the state’s laws supporting religious freedom.
Governor Patrick Morrisey (R) issued an executive order earlier this year permitting religious exemptions for inoculations. “Forcing those West Virginians to vaccinate their children despite their religious and moral objections substantially burdens the free exercise of religion in violation of the inherent religious liberties guaranteed by the Constitutions of the United States and West Virginia,” the order says.
