( May 5, 2026, 12:18 PM EDT) -- PORTLAND, Ore. — An employee who was fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine pursuant to company policy during the pandemic filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on May 4 seeking review of a summary judgment ruling in favor of her former employer in an Oregon federal court, which adopted a magistrate judge’s findings that the employee’s objections to the COVID-19 vaccine derived not from religious principle but rather from a subjective evaluation of secular considerations and that accommodating her objection would have placed an undue burden on her employer....