74-year-old Janet Aldrich, who runs a freelance media operation from Hamilton, MA, is currently staying in Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, MA, where she is seeking treatment for COVID and pneumonia.
At least ten states, including Massachusetts, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada have enacted strict COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the past week, impacting millions of employees, customers, and college students.
The bills would either eliminate the religious exemption or else make the exemption much harder to obtain by incentivizing institutions to reject students who seek religious exemptions, allowing minors to get vaccines without parental approval, and letting schools make up their own vaccine requirements.
Facing lawsuits, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health withdrew the mandate that would have required all students under age 30 attending Massachusetts schools to get a flu vaccine by Feb. 28.