United Airlines will place unvaccinated employees granted religious or medical waivers on leave

[mucifer]

Source: Chicago Tribune

United Airlines told employees Wednesday that anyone granted a religious or medical waiver from an accelerated Sept. 27 vaccination deadline will be placed on temporary leave beginning Oct. 2.

Employees whose requests for a vaccination exemption are denied will have five weeks to get the shots or be terminated by the airline.

That was the message emailed to an undisclosed number of United employees who submitted a request for a “reasonable accommodation” exempting them from the vaccine requirement, based on “sincerely held” religious beliefs or a medical condition

For customer-facing roles such as pilots, flight attendants and gate agents, employees granted a religious vaccine exemption will be placed on unpaid personal leave beginning Oct. 2, and would be able to return to work only after the pandemic “meaningfully recedes,” the airline said.



Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-united-airlines-covid-vaccinations-waiver-religious-medical-20210908-67dhnxtyk5h6rb7hr7ega33e2u-story.html

[Rhiannon12866]

1. What religion is opposed to a vaccine that could save your life??

[gab13by13]

4. Talibangelical

[Rhiannon12866]

6. I suspect that's just a lame excuse, but that's a good name for it.

I have Mary Trump's new book and she says that her uncle's reaction to a global pandemic made all the difference. He could have followed the protocols that the Obama administration had developed during Ebola, invoked the Defense Production Act for PPE and reached out to other nations since we're all experiencing this everywhere - but instead he chose to ignore it since it didn't affect him personally. And the divisiveness in this country - and the massive death toll - are the result.

[durablend]

12. aka Church of Trump

[rpannier]

5. I looked up religious groups and this is what I found

Last edited Thu Sep 9, 2021, 08:12 AM - Edit history (1)

Church of Christ, Scientist (whose adherents are known as "Christian Scientists" ) and the Dutch Reformed Church both oppose
Some Islamic groups are opposed, but they appear to groups predominately found in s.e. Asia (Thailand is one place)

I thought maybe 7th Day Adventists would be opposed, but from their website

The Seventh-day Adventist Church places strong emphasis on health and well-being. The Adventist health emphasis is based on biblical revelation, the inspired writing of E.G. White (co-founder of the Church), and on peer-reviewed scientific literature. As such, we encourage responsible immunization/vaccination, and have no religious or faith-based reason not to encourage our adherents to responsibly participate in protective and preventive immunization programs. We value the health and safety of the population, which includes the maintenance of “herd immunity.”

We are not the conscience of the individual church member, and recognize individual choices. These are exercised by the individual. The choice not to be immunized is not and should not be seen as the dogma nor the doctrine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. Thank you! I assumed the "religion" was just being used as an excuse

My grandmother knew a couple who were Christina Scientists and just before her 75th birthday she had a bad fall and was in the hospital. And she said that is couple - who were in another state - claimed to be "healing" her from wherever they were. Even back then I thought it sounded bogus. And my grandmother was brought up in the Dutch Reform Church! (She had Dutch ancestry) But I can't imagine my grandmother believing any of the RW BS. She was definitely sane and listened to doctors. Thanks for looking that up!

[thucythucy]

19. Do these same groups oppose all vaccines?

Rubella, smallpox, polio, flu shots....?

I would think working for an airline in any position that requires contact with the public would be high risk. Staff on airliners traveling from city to city and dealing with hundreds of people a day, many of whom have themselves been exposed to hundreds others, ticket agents at the gates, all are in added danger of catching whatever is out there.

As for medical exemptions, one justified exemption would be for people on chemotherapy for cancer, another would be for people on immuno-suppressors due to an organ transplant. Neither should be exposed to the public, for their own safety.

Of course, some people might be violently allergic to a vaccine ingredient. My partner had such an allergy. She was able o work around this either by getting a vaccine specifically tailored to avoid that ingredient, or, if that wasn't an option, receiving the vaccine with medical staff trained to deal with someone going into shock. It was a question of weighing the risks: on the one hand, going into shock that could immediately be treated with an epipen, or succumbing to an infection made much more deadly by her underlying health issues.

[rpannier]

27. What I found was interesting

Christian Scientists have an position which I wish I had seen earlier
They encourage their members to look out for public health. Their members are told to take vaccinations that are required by law and they do support their members having vaccine passports if it's the law

From their website:
Concern for public health and safety is something that all responsible people share—including Christian Scientists. Grateful as we are to live in communities where honest differences can be respected, Christian Scientists are also mindful of the obligations all citizens have to respect the rights of others in their communities.

For more than a century, our denomination has counseled respect for public health authorities and conscientious obedience to the laws of the land, including those requiring vaccination. Christian Scientists report suspected communicable disease, obey quarantines, and strive to cooperate with measures considered necessary by public health officials. We see this as a matter of basic Golden Rule ethics and New Testament love.

As for the issue of exemptions for vaccination in the law, Christian Scientists’ perspective on this issue may be unique. In the past, many public officials have been broadly supportive of exemptions when these have not been considered a danger to the wider community. In more recent years, public health concerns relating to vaccinations have risen as exemptions from them have been claimed by larger numbers. Christian Scientists recognize the seriousness of these concerns.

**** The other site I found info on may have been a differing CS group or something ****
So, on that I was wrong

The Dutch Reformed appear to have two groups: one that doesn't vaccinate because they believe that vaccinations interfere with their relationship with God and those that view vaccines as a gift from God. So, I guess it depends on the person.

Areas with sizable members of the DR Church had more than 1200 people come down with measles in 2013

[ProfessorGAC]

25. There Are Adventist Hospitals Around Chicago

I know one of them is in Elmhurst. It's been there since I was in high school, at least.
A guy I went to HS with was a pharmacist there for a few years right out of school. He was Catholic, so their religion didn't affect hiring practices in the least.
So, obviously they're not anti modern medicine. So, what you found makes sense.

[Sherman A1]

2. Good

The sooner the better.

[Jon King]

3. The CDC lists no medical conditions made worse by the vaccines.

So medical exemptions are garbage, as are religious exemptions by their very nature.

[3Hotdogs]

7. woman in our hiking club had a reaction to last fall's flu vaccine. Her physician advised her to

avoid the Rona vaccine.

She stands away from the rest of us during line-up. She is the last one in line on the trail. The rest of us are all vaccinated.

[marybourg]

10. Recent trsnsplants, current cancer

chemotherapy, anaphylactic reaction to vaccine component are the excluding conditions

[Jon King]

21. No, the CDC reviewed all these and none are reality.

There was no anaphylactic effect, those were early reports that were proven not to be vaccine related.

[GregariousGroundhog]

24. The CDC has a couple of contraindications for use of COVID vaccines

People who are allergic to polyethylene glycol should not receive Moderna or Pfizer vaccines. If they receive their first vaccine and have an anaphylactic effect, they should not received their second dose.

People who are allergic to polysorbate-80 should not receive the Jansen vaccine.

I don't know what the odds are of being allergic to both polythylene glycol and polysorbate-80 are, but I imagine it is pretty low.

[womanofthehills]

29. You need to check out CDC's VAERS

All doctors & health care workers are required to report vaccine side effects - although many don’t because some say it’s too time consuming. 5,752 reports to CDC of anaphylactic type reactions. You can read the individual reports. Over 650,000 total vaccine injury reports thru Aug. 23. Latest VAERS reports are usually released every Friday by the CDC And FDA. https://vaers.hhs.gov/data.html

[AllyCat]

11. Unless someone has an allergy to the vaccine

But all the ingredients in the Pfizer vaccine are common, food and pharmaceutical grade components. Or they naturally occur in the body. I just don’t think there is anyone who really shouldn’t get it otherwise.

[ProfessorGAC]

26. There Are PAG Allergies

They're very rare, but some people are allergic to polyalkylene glycols. If they are, internal exposure could be much more intense.
Pfizer & Moderna have polypropylene glycol as a phase stability agent. It's USP or NF grade (food & drug), but an allergy is an allergy.
But, J&J doesn't have that, so even those people with PAG allergies could still get an alternative.

[AllyCat]

28. Sure. Would really suck to have that since PEG

is in freaking everything. Then J&J. There are no excuses for 99% of the people. None. As for PAG…I don’t see it in there. Which ingredient are you seeing that is a PAG?

[ProfessorGAC]

30. Replying Late

Last edited Fri Sep 10, 2021, 01:55 PM - Edit history (1)

Couple things:
Things like PEG, PPG, PBG are all PAGs. E is ethylene, P is propylene, B is butylene. All are used as phase stabilizers and viscosity modifiers. The A in PAG stands for alkylene. Any straight chain saturated carbon chain is an alkyl chain. Since the starting material is always short 2 hydrogens, they are "alkylenes". So things like PEG are in the family of PAGs.
Few people are allergic to PEG, but not PPG or PBG. They're allergic, for the most part, to the chemical family.
As to PEG being in everything, PAG allergies are typically quite mild in external use. Severe reactions, up to anaphylaxis, are more typically associated with internal reactions. Sinus cavities from inhalation, ingestion, or as in the vax, subcutaneous.
Even for people with an allergy to PAGs, the reactions range from mild rash to unnoticeable. But, those same people get it inside the body & it's a whole different game.
Sorry for the confusion. I spent a career as an organic chemist, so I forget that my jargon isn't common parlance.

[AllyCat]

31. Thanks for the explanation

It’s been awhile since organic chem for me. That makes sense.

[3Hotdogs]

8. I'm glad the religious nuts are included in the excluded.

[lark]

13. Gee I bet a lot of those religious objectors are all of a sudden ok with getting it.

UNPAID leave is brilliant, I wonder how many will actually put their idiocy over their livliehood? I'd bet not many, but we'll see.

[Deminpenn]

17. Actions have consequences

Too many of the cultists and uber-religious have faced 0 consequences for their actions. Now they will.

[lark]

18. Yes and it's about time.

[Deminpenn]

22. Indeed

[mucifer]

14. I love that the Pope said the covid vaccine is love. So Catholics would have to convert

There are a lot of Catholics in the USA

[Marthe48]

15. My new neighbor had this to say

She is not vacinnated. Everyone else in her family is. She said that there had been reports of depression and suicide after people had gotten the human papillomavirus vaccine. Not sure if she saw my skepticism because I was wearing a mask. I don't know if she meant that people who had gotten human papillomavirus vaccine and get the covid vaccine, or if she is anti-vaccine in general.

[thucythucy]

20. Two reactions to her story:

"There are reports" is awfully vague. It's like "people are saying" or "I heard about..." I'd ask which reports, from where?

And many people become depressed, and some commit suicide, whether or not they are vaccinated. The question should be, are the reported rates of depression and suicide statistically higher among the vaccinated as opposed to the unvaccinated?

Is your relationship is such that you can ask these questions without alienating your new neighbor? On the one hand dealing with neighbors is always touchy, on the other hand you might just save her life.

[Marthe48]

23. They moved in last month

I don't know them well. They are all friendly and offer me help and food. When she told me that, I replied that the Covid vaccine has been years in the making, like from 2002, and the vaccines are getting to the point where they can take one gene sequence out and put another in, so they had a lot of work done before Covid hit us.

She said her family is on her to get the vaccine. I hope they prevail. I hadn't heard her reason before, and I just haven't heard of a correlation between getting a vaccination and getting depressed. I've heard reports that Ivermectin will save you from Covid, but I'll rely on the vaccine, thanks!

Thank you for the insight.

[twodogsbarking]

16. That's nice.