Liberty Counsel recently intervened on behalf of a medical student who was finally given a religious exemption after first being denied based on the COVID-19 shot mandate at Lehigh Valley Health Network.
The nursing student is completing clinicals and is also an employee at Lehigh Valley Health Network. On September 1, 2021, she submitted a religious exemption request to Lehigh because she objects to the injections based on the fetal cell line/abortion connection since each of the three injections available were either produced or tested with fetal cell lines that originated in elective abortions. This student did not want to be forced to choose between her faith and her education and career.
In her religious exemption request she also stated that, “My beliefs are that I may decline any medical intervention (this includes vaccinations) if my conscience and the Holy Spirit directs me to that choice. I am morally and ethically obligated to obey my conscience according to those teachings and what the Holy Spirit calls me to do.”
Her religious exemption request was originally denied by Lehigh in part because “your objection as to what the vaccinations contain and/or its development is factually incorrect.” This is inaccurate because it is now common knowledge and indisputable that all three of the currently available COVID-19 injections are produced by, derived from, manufactured with, tested on, developed with, or otherwise connected to, aborted fetal cell lines. Lehigh also told her “to reach out to Employee Health Services to learn more about the components in the offered vaccines,” and she was given a deadline to receive the COVID shot and send proof, or face removal from the program.
Liberty Counsel sent the demand letter to Lehigh officials on her behalf informing them of the inaccuracy of their statements. This nursing student’s exemption request was quickly approved as well as another employee. Other students and employees at Lehigh Valley Health Network who may have initially been denied should also appeal their denial.
The statistics regarding the harm from these injections is staggering. The VAERS data shows 675,591 reported adverse events, including 14,506 deaths as of September 3, 2021 from the COVID injections.
In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did a bait and switch last month by announcing it approved its “first COVID-19 vaccine” in order to push the “vaccine” mandates and protect the Pfizer pharmaceutical company from legal liability. The BioNTech version called Comirnaty was approved. While substantively the same as Pfizer, Comirnaty and Pfizer are legally different. Pfizer remains under EUA. The new BioNTech label of Comirnaty is approved, but it is not available in the United States. There is currently NO FDA approved COVID-19 injection available anywhere in the United States. Every COVID shot in America remains under the EUA law and thus people have the “option to accept or refuse” them.
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Lehigh Valley Health Network cannot violate federal and state law and deny religious exemptions for these shot mandates. No school, employer, or government may force or coerce anyone to take these injections.”
