Thousands of Oregon healthcare employees, K-12 educators and state workers who were told they must get fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 18 or risk losing their jobs found an easy way out: They applied for religious or medical exceptions.
While some employers rigorously scrutinized these requests and accepted only a smaller number they determined to be sincere, many other employers in especially rural, vaccine-reluctant parts of the state gave the nod to every employee who asked for one.