In his decision in favor of the injunction sought by the 35 Navy sailors, O’Connor wrote that they objected to being vaccinated on four grounds: “opposition to abortion and the use of aborted fetal cell lines in development of the vaccine; belief that modifying one’s body is an affront to the Creator; divine instruction not to receive the vaccine, and opposition to injecting trace amounts of animal cells into one’s body.”
“Plaintiffs’ beliefs about the vaccine are undisputedly sincere, and it is not the role of this court to determine their truthfulness or accuracy,” the judge wrote.
The sailors who sued are members of the Naval Special Warfare Command, including SEALs. The suit was filed by First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit that focuses on defending religious liberty.
In the early stages of the pandemic, the Navy struggled with one particularly critical COVID-19 outbreak. Hundreds of sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier were infected, starting in late March while on a deployment to Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia. The ship was taken out of operation at Guam, its commanding officer was relieved of duty and the crisis led to the resignation of acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly.
Since then, the Navy and other services have managed to avoid major disruptions. In December, officials said about two dozen sailors on board the USS Milwaukee, or roughly 25% of the ship’s crew, had tested positive for COVID-19, keeping the vessel sidelined in port at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. On Monday, the Navy announced that the ship had returned to sea.
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AP writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared here.
