Religious Exemptions and the Constitutionality of Vaccine Mandates in the Philippines

Abstract

Government responses to the covid-19 pandemic raise various legal concerns otherwise inconceivable in recent memory. One of the many implemented policies is the requirement of inoculation or vaccination to achieve herd immunity, similar to other diseases that have been eradicated by intensive vaccination programmes. Vaccine hesitancy, nevertheless, remains a persistent State concern which is complicated by reference to constitutionally protected rights. Refusal to be vaccinated on religious grounds has led various countries to provide religious exemptions to avoid judicial scrutiny. The Philippines, as the largest Christian nation in Asia, has a complex legal relationship with the church. This article discusses the State-church relationship from a constitutional and human rights law perspective and, using approaches formulated by the Philippine Supreme Court in religion clause analysis, attempts to assess, and possibly bridge, the perceived conflict between religious freedom and the Philippine government’s covid-19 vaccination policies.