CHICAGO – Since Governor Pritzker set into motion a COVID-19 mandate for public school employees and medical personnel last week, more queries about Illinoisans' rights to continue working without Pritzker-required injections have come forward, says one legal expert.
Differing legal opinions abound on whether Illinois' strong Health Care Conscience Act applies, but even the governor's latest executive order issued August 26, 2021, allows health care workers to claim medical or religious exemptions under Section 2 Vaccination Requirements for Health Care Workers:
- Individuals are exempt from the requirement to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 if (1) vaccination is medically contraindicated, including any individual who is entitled to an accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act or any other law applicable to a disability-related reasonable accommodation, or (2) vaccination would require the individual to violate or forgo a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance. Individuals who demonstrate they are exempt from the vaccination requirement shall undergo, at a minimum, weekly testing as provided for in Subsection (d).
Illinois Review had a chance to speak with Liberty Counsel co-founder Mat Staver about several issues pertaining to exemptions, an HTML d the case their pro-bono law firm is representing against the Advocate Health Care system in Illinois and Missouri.
ILLINOIS LAW SAYS "UNLAWFUL" TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS TO HEALTH CARE
Here's an audio of the call between Illinois Review and Liberty Counsel's Mat Staver – (We apologize for the quality of the audio and will work to transcribe below):
IR with Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver copy
Adapted quotes from the audio:
Illinois Review: The Illinois Education Association just came out this morning, saying references to the Illinois Health Care Conscience Act pertaining to vaccination mandates should be considered “misinformation.”
Staver: They’re wrong. Advocate was saying something like that, too. They would not entertain any exceptions based on anyone’s opposition to aborted fetal cells [in vaccine production or development]. But that’s not their decision to make. This is the employee’s as to whether they have a sincerely-held belief not whether they disagree with the facts.
IR: May I point out that the reason the IEA gives that the Act does not apply to the COVID mandates is because there have yet to be any legal precedent on the particular Act.
Staver: “So? It’s pretty obvious there is citation precedence. Many state health departments are making the same assertions … We didn’t make this up. It’s pretty common information.
IR: Would you expect more legal challenges of these mandates in Illinois?
Staver: I see a lot more across the country. The implications for health care are enormous. In one hospital, we are working with employees – 23,000 employees – 80+% of them do not want the shot. We’re talking 19,000 employees… In another one, we’re talking about a hospital that has 14,000 employees. Of those, 66% do not want the shots. In Advocate Aurora, they have 70,000 between Illinois and Missouri – I don’t have the percentage, but it’s a large percent that don’t want the shot. Big hospitals can’t afford to lose 5% of their staff. 30, 40, 50% will not get the shot.
They won’t get them because 1. They worked through COVID, 2. Some of them have had COVID, 3. Many of them have now seen people who’ve come into the hospital injured from the very shot their employers are requiring they get. They’re not going to get the shot.
If the employers follow through and terminate all these workers, they’ll not have sufficient staff to care for the people.
Continuing …
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Added information
The Illinois Education Association (Illinois' largest teachers union) put out a press release Monday morning claiming any reference to the Illinois Health Care Conscience Act was "misinformation."
From Page 4 of the IEA press release
Their words:
Misinformation: Some anti-vaccination groups have cited the Healthcare Right of Conscience Act as a legal basis to allow individuals to fully opt out of vaccination or testing and you may hear arguments to this effect from local leaders or individual members. Aside from a broad proclamation as to its applicability, there is no legal precedent established under this Act that supports an employee’s refusal to be vaccinated or tested pursuant to the Executive Order.
