A year ago, a California megachurch pastor who already made headlines for defying a state public health mandate by holding indoor services in the thick of the coronavirus pandemic is now signing letters exempting those who don't want to get a COVID-19 vaccination for religious purposes. “The vaccine poses a morally compromising situation for many people of faith,” Destiny Christian Church Pastor Greg Fairrington said in a statement The Los Angeles Times obtained. “The religious exemptions we are issuing speak to that, honor that, and affirm that.”
Practically reciting an anti-vaxxer ode, the pastor told Fox 11 Los Angeles he is “pro-freedom," not "antivaccination." "There's freedom of religion. That's what is born at the heart of America," Fairrington said. The church even included in a prayer posted on social media “educators, nurses, doctors, and first responders who are being mandated to get the vaccine or lose their job.”
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Fairrington told KCRA he’d received hundreds of calls from health care workers, teachers, and government employees asking him to consider the religious exemption, which requires in-person attendance to receive. “People were driving for hours to be here,” the pastor said.
Catholic Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego wrote in a letter dated August 11 there will be no such religious exemption where he is concerned, and he would not be signing a declaration written by the Colorado Catholic Conference on vaccinations and Catholic teachings. "The purpose of this declaration seems to be to elicit from the pastor a public indication that a specific parishioner's decision to refuse the COVID vaccine is rooted in and supported by authentic Catholic faith," McElroy said. "Such a declaration is particularly problematic because the Holy See has made it clear that receiving the COVID vaccine is perfectly consistent with Catholic faith, and indeed laudatory in the light of the common good in this time of pandemic."
Fairrington’s exemptions follow an order signed on August 5 by State Director and State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón, requiring health care workers to have received at least one vaccine dose by September 30.
“’Worker’ refers to all paid and unpaid individuals who work in indoor settings where (1) care is provided to patients, or (2) patients have access for any purpose,” Aragón said in the order. “This includes workers serving in health care or other health care settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or SARS-CoV-2 airborne aerosols. Workers include, but are not limited to, nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, technicians, therapists, phlebotomists, pharmacists, students, and trainees, contractual staff not employed by the health care facility, and persons not directly involved in patient care, but who could be exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted in the health care setting (e.g., clerical, dietary, environmental services, laundry, security, engineering and facilities management, administrative, billing, and volunteer personnel).”
Aragón also stated in the order:
The Culver City Unified School District, located about 10 miles southwest of Los Angeles, similarly mandated vaccines for all eligible students and staff members on Tuesday, making the district one of the first in the nation to do so. “We are mandating vaccines for all eligible staff and students. We will begin gathering vaccine status data immediately,” Superintendent Quoc Tran tweeted. “ The deadline for providing the proof of vaccine is Friday, November 19, 2021, to give everyone the opportunity to make their vaccine plans.”
The state of Washington and city school districts in Chicago and Los Angeles have similarly required all teachers and staff members to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment. “We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We’ve tried it. It has not been adequate for the task at hand.”
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Practically reciting an anti-vaxxer ode, the pastor told Fox 11 Los Angeles he is “pro-freedom," not "antivaccination." "There's freedom of religion. That's what is born at the heart of America," Fairrington said. The church even included in a prayer posted on social media “educators, nurses, doctors, and first responders who are being mandated to get the vaccine or lose their job.”
YouTube Video
Fairrington told KCRA he’d received hundreds of calls from health care workers, teachers, and government employees asking him to consider the religious exemption, which requires in-person attendance to receive. “People were driving for hours to be here,” the pastor said.
Catholic Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego wrote in a letter dated August 11 there will be no such religious exemption where he is concerned, and he would not be signing a declaration written by the Colorado Catholic Conference on vaccinations and Catholic teachings. "The purpose of this declaration seems to be to elicit from the pastor a public indication that a specific parishioner's decision to refuse the COVID vaccine is rooted in and supported by authentic Catholic faith," McElroy said. "Such a declaration is particularly problematic because the Holy See has made it clear that receiving the COVID vaccine is perfectly consistent with Catholic faith, and indeed laudatory in the light of the common good in this time of pandemic."
Fairrington’s exemptions follow an order signed on August 5 by State Director and State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón, requiring health care workers to have received at least one vaccine dose by September 30.
“’Worker’ refers to all paid and unpaid individuals who work in indoor settings where (1) care is provided to patients, or (2) patients have access for any purpose,” Aragón said in the order. “This includes workers serving in health care or other health care settings who have the potential for direct or indirect exposure to patients or SARS-CoV-2 airborne aerosols. Workers include, but are not limited to, nurses, nursing assistants, physicians, technicians, therapists, phlebotomists, pharmacists, students, and trainees, contractual staff not employed by the health care facility, and persons not directly involved in patient care, but who could be exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted in the health care setting (e.g., clerical, dietary, environmental services, laundry, security, engineering and facilities management, administrative, billing, and volunteer personnel).”
Aragón also stated in the order:
The Culver City Unified School District, located about 10 miles southwest of Los Angeles, similarly mandated vaccines for all eligible students and staff members on Tuesday, making the district one of the first in the nation to do so. “We are mandating vaccines for all eligible staff and students. We will begin gathering vaccine status data immediately,” Superintendent Quoc Tran tweeted. “ The deadline for providing the proof of vaccine is Friday, November 19, 2021, to give everyone the opportunity to make their vaccine plans.”
The state of Washington and city school districts in Chicago and Los Angeles have similarly required all teachers and staff members to be vaccinated as a condition of their employment. “We are well past the point where testing is enough to keep people safe,” Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said at a news conference on Wednesday. “We’ve tried it. It has not been adequate for the task at hand.”
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