Arizona Attorney General says businesses can require vaccines

PHOENIX, Ariz. (AP) — Private Arizona businesses can require their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 but must allow reasonable religious and medical exemptions under state and federal law, state Attorney General Mark Brnovich wrote in a legal opinion.

And they can impose vaccine requirements on patrons as well, as long as they provide reasonable accommodation for customers who can’t take a vaccine because of a disability or don’t discriminate against someone who won’t take a vaccine for religious reasons, the Republican wrote in Friday’s opinion.

Public schools and universities and local and state government agencies are different because of laws enacted this year by the Republican-controlled state Legislature and signed by GOP Gov. Doug Ducey. They are not allowed to require employees or students to get a vaccine, once the new laws take effect on Sept. 29. But private schools can, if they allow exemptions for religious or health reasons.

Ducey last week issued an executive order barring state and local governments from requiring vaccines, based on an existing law that says health agencies can’t force people to be treated if they comply with sanitary or quarantine rules. A violation carries criminal sanctions.

Brnovich, who is running in the 2022 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Mark Kelly, also weighed in on whether airlines can require patrons to be vaccinated. The answer is no, sort of.