Health Care and Religion on Clash in Flu Shot Mandate
A volunteer in Itasca County does not need a flu shot, and she may lose her volunteer job if she does not get one.
It is apparently not enough if employees for Essentia Health cite religious beliefs for denying flu shots. It wants employees to prove they live by religious doctrine in different facets of their life.
58, Noreen Hautala, isn't asserting a spiritual reason for refusing the shot; she states she had a horrible response to a flu shot. But she informs the Duluth News Tribune she's disturbed by the extent to which the company, which plans to fire everyone who doesn't get a flu shot, is probing spiritual beliefs of those who are claiming a religious exemption.
An answer that arrived on Oct. 20 said her exemption request was neither approved nor denied, rather asking for extra information within five days. "Failure to present extra information might cause a denial of your request," stated the note, which Hautala distributed with the News Tribune.
The information that was sought involved identifying the specific religious beliefs blocking her from being vaccinated, describing how those beliefs clash with vaccination and specifying "other ways that you adhere to such religious beliefs into your everyday life."
Hautala responded on the afternoon but didn't answer those questions. She stated she wondered whether it was inherent to ask such questions.
The daughter of a 91-year-old man, that Hatula is taking care of, says that she does not have any objection to Hautala not getting the vaccine.
Someone's already dying," Renee Nash tells the newspaper. "And hospice is just keeping them comfortable and pain-free. So what could it matter whether they had a flu shot or not?"
The health provider says it has been surprised by the objections to the coverage.
This is similar to a cultural transformation for health care in Minnesota," said Dr. Rajesh Prabhu, the health program's patient quality, and safety officer. "They're looking for a person to lead."
