Some conservative activists have actively encouraged people to opt out of various vaccine mandates by asking for a religious exemption. Among their reasons: opposition to pharmaceutical companies that develop vaccines using cells believed to have been originally derived from tissue from fetuses aborted decades ago — a common practice used in the creation of many modern medicines.
The debate escalated last month when faith leaders organized by a band of onetime Trump faith advisers sent a letter to U.S. military leaders urging them to allow service members to opt out of mandated COVID-19 vaccination because of their faith.
“We should be rewarding their bravery and the bravery of all our men and women in uniform, by not forcing them to choose between sincere religious convictions and staying in the military,” the letter read in part.
According to the PRRI poll, vaccine refusers are deeply supportive of religious exemptions, with 85% backing them compared with 44% of vaccine-acceptant Americans.
Vaccine refusers were also the most likely to say they agree with the statement that “receiving the COVID-19 vaccination goes against my religious beliefs,” with 52% saying yes.
But the number shifted when the question was changed slightly to emphasize the teachings of their faith: Only 33% said they agreed that “the teachings of my religion prohibit receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.”
The survey was conducted online, reached more than 5,700 total respondents and reports a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.
This article originally appeared here.
