LDS Church Require Missionaries to Receive COVID-19 Vaccine or Serve in Home Country

The Missionary Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sent the following message on Friday, April 23, 2021, to Church leaders in the United States:

COVID-19 vaccines are becoming available in many places throughout the world. All missionaries and prospective missionaries are encouraged to safeguard themselves and others by being vaccinated. Individuals are responsible to make their own decisions about vaccination (see First Presidency statement, January 19, 2021).

Under the direction of their mission leaders, mission medical coordinators are monitoring the availability of the COVID-19 vaccine in their mission and informing missionaries when they may receive it.

Young missionaries in the United States who will travel to a mission outside their home country on or after August 1, 2021, should be vaccinated before traveling. Senior missionaries may travel to their assigned mission, where visa and travel conditions permit, after they have been vaccinated.

Missionaries who have begun a COVID-19 vaccination series should complete it before traveling.

Missionaries who choose not to receive the required immunizations, which will now include the COVID-19 vaccination, will be assigned to a mission in their home country in accordance with existing Church policies. As the COVID-19 vaccination becomes more widely available in other countries, these missionaries will be asked to be vaccinated before leaving their home country.