An employer whose onsite nurse refuses, for religious reasons, to administer a COVID-19 vaccination must offer the employee a reasonable accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. However, the employer doesn’t have to make changes that would result in an undue hardship.
An employee might have religious beliefs that prohibit the administration of medications manufactured using lab-replicated fetal cells, such as the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. Federal health agencies have called for a pause in the use of this single-dose vaccine after six recipients out of 7 million in the U.S. developed a rare blood-clot disorder within two weeks of vaccination.
