At his primary care center in Newnan, Dr. Cecil Bennett has recently seen a handful of patients who are not seeking a clean bill of health. They’re looking for a way out of their employers’ COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
Some sound desperate, asking if they have a medical issue, any medical issue at all, that could qualify them for an exemption.
“I try not to judge my patients one way or another,” said Bennett. “But the list is quite small for those who should be exempt from the vaccine. Ethically, I can’t do it.”
Nearly two years into the global pandemic, the threat of the new omicron variant looms. The coronavirus has claimed more than 779,000 U.S. lives, including more than 25,000 Georgians, more employers are ordering their workforce to get vaccinated. The federal government is poised to require the shots as well. Medical or religious exemptions are allowed, but how they’re granted and to whom is unclear.
Some workers are scrambling to apply for exemptions before mandates kick in. Without a vaccine or an exemption, some could lose their jobs.
Atlanta labor and employment attorney Sheri Oluyemi said her office is inundated with calls from employers and employees seeking advice on medical and religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.
Oluyemi said for employees, “their main concern is that they don’t want to take the mandatory vaccine, but they also don’t want to lose their livelihood.”
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