These are all stock photos
Many Texans are currently acting like crazed fools. 178 workers at Methodist Hospital in Houston refused to get vaccinated against COVID, which was a requirement to retain their employment. These workers had from April until June 7th to get vaccinated but refused. Some got vaccinated after the deadline, a handful of the workers quit and the rest were terminated. Over 100 of them sued the hospital and lost. The judge presiding over the case ruled on June 12th that the hospital was in the business of saving lives. She said that while people had the right to refuse the vaccine they “simply need to work somewhere else.” Below are a few more highlights from People:
Earlier this month, 178 hospital workers were suspended without pay for failing to comply with the hospital’s requirement that all employees get fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The requirement was announced in April, and workers had until June 7 to comply.
After the two-week suspension period, 153 employees were either terminated or stepped away Tuesday, a Houston Methodist Hospital system spokesperson told NPR. A spokesperson for the hospital system did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
More than 100 employees filed a lawsuit over the requirement, arguing that it was unlawful for the hospital to require employees to be inoculated or fired, according to documents obtained by the New York Times.
Houston U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes threw out the lawsuit earlier this month, though the plaintiffs have appealed the dismissal, NPR reported.
“Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without giving them the COVID-19 virus,” Hughes wrote in her June 12 ruling. “It is a choice made to keep staff, patients, and their families safer.”
Hughes also pointed out that the employees “can freely choose to accept or refuse a COVID-19 vaccine” – but if they refuse, they will “simply need to work somewhere else.”
I hang my head in shame at the state of Texas right now. I will never understand people who literally were on the frontlines of this virus refusing to be vaccinated against it. I also don’t understand anyone who would leave one of the best gigs in town because they are being idiots. Methodist hospital is one of the best employers in the Houston Medical Center. They pay very well and have some of the best benefits. These workers rightfully deserved to be terminated from their positions. Getting vaccinated would have protected them more than anything and Methodist hospital had every right to want to protect its workers and patients.
With that being said, the media is making more of this story than there is. If only 153 employees out of 25,000 quit or were terminated, it really isn’t a big deal. As for healthcare workers being this irresponsible about a killer virus, I am glad neither I or my loved ones will have to come into contact with them. Anyways, good luck to those employees finding work in Houston because I am sure most of the hospitals and clinics will be requiring workers to be vaccinated.
Photos credit: Павел Сорокин and Gustavo Fring on Pexels and Bermix Studios on Unsplash
As soon as the vaccines gain full federal approval, I think a lot of employers, not just healthcare, will require employees to be vaccinated. If you choose not to be, that’s your choice and you will be terminated. Actions, behaviors, consequences.
And before anyone says it, if there is a valid medical reason why you can’t be vaccinated, fine. But that’s the exception, not the rule, and others being vaccinated protects that person.
Anecdotally, I used to work with someone who bragged every year about her superior immune system and how she never got the flu. I finally told her that her not getting it was thanks in large part to all of her coworkers being vaccinated, not her superior immune system. God I loathed that dope.
Oh I hear that too about the measles. “My kids are not vaccinated and neither ever had measles”. Yeah because all other kids are vaccinated!!
I have to question why anyone who can’t get vaccinated for medical reasons is working in a hospital. Surely you’re not just at risk from COVID, but from any number of other infectious diseases?
Yeah, hospitals and healthcare facilities are a non-starter. But other employers will likely allow that exemption.
@Jane
It could be they aren’t getting vaccinated due to allergies/something specific in the meds that doesn’t impact their daily lives so they can work in a hospital/doesn’t increase their risk.
My brother cannot get the vax due to a childhood illness (almost died from it) and it made him react very negatively to specific drugs/medications. He has a host of meds he cannot take at all, ones that are of considered risky because they assume he may react negatively, on top of a host of food allergies. He’s healthy and works as a nurse. He will have to rely on either a new vaccine with a different drug combination or others getting it. He has been on-off work since the start of the pandemic and changed wards a few times to avoid increased risk of exposure to Covid.
LOL @ both comments above. It’s really something isn’t it? Complete idiocy.
My hairdresser is allergic to an ingredient in the vaccines and thought she couldn’t get it. She went back to her doctor and he arranged an epi pen for her and she went with her mom, a nurse for her vaccination. .
So she had a legit reason not to get vaccinated but there was a solution that worked for her.
I had allergy testing (scratch test followed by dilution testing) done because I have a history of anaphylaxis and because I was having significant wheals to bug bites last Summer (one that took up half of my arm even after I had a shit ton of steroids on board) and had large wheals in response to my flu shot & pneumonia vaccination last fall when I’d never previously had any reaction to vaccinations. My docs & I were concerned that those reactions and the possibility that the respiratory infection that felled me last Jan/Feb was COVID, that I may have been at higher risk of a nasty reaction to the COVID vaccine (we’d heard anecdotally that those who had the anaphylactic reactions to the vaccine were folks with history of anaphylaxis who’d also had a COVID infection). We were pleasantly surprised that the only reaction I had during testing was to the positive control (which itched like a bitch) and that I had blink it & miss it reactions to being vaccinated
When I worked in the hospital, I was required to get not only annual flu shot (I worked in Pulmonary so that was absolutely needed) & Hepatitis B vaccination. I’m gobsmacked that staff that treated COVID patients, especially CCRNs, would reject getting vaccinated on the grounds that “there’s not enough data/not enough people tested in clinical trials” and the fact current authorization for use is EUA. Both Pfizer & Moderna have no submitted their BLAs (which contain significantly more exposure data than required for standard vaccine BLA submission) and I’m fairly certain these will get priority review w/possibly shorter timelines than the 6 months it usually takes for approval under priority review
Also, having unvaccinated staff – especially unvaccinated healthcare workers is a liability to the hospital: it puts patients, many of whom have clinical reasons they cannot be vaccinated, at higher risk of exposure & infection from interactions with unvaccinated staff. This absolutely unnecessary increased risk won’t be acceptable for the hospital’s malpractice insurer. When a patient/patient’s family files a malpractice suit, the person they think cause the injury isn’t the only one sued; the attending physicians (which could include the unit director who may never have had any involvement in the patient’s care) & the hospital (and any entity considered to have deep pockets) are enjoined in that lawsuit. A malpractice insurer could drop the hospital’s policy if the hospital permits staff to refuse vaccination. The hospital can also be put in a position of having to discontinue employment/privileges of any HCP who doesn’t carry sufficient malpractice coverage.
One of my colleagues has autoimmune issues and had a weird, slightly dangerous reaction to her first shot. In consultation with her doctor, she remained under observation for a while and spaced her shots out a little longer, but went back for the second and had no problems. It kills me when people are making excuses for not getting it. Obviously work with your doctor, but the people I know who have health concerns are the ones who were most eager to get the vaccine.
I agree. If you have a legitimate health reason not to get vaccinated, fair but if you’re not getting vaccinated because you think the vaccines contain a microchip, 5G or dead babies (whatever the latest nonsense is) then yeah, my sympathy and understanding for those people plummets to 0.
The most recent one I’ve heard is that the Pfizer shot makes you magnetic. I wish I was kidding.
@Robyn I moved to OH 2 months ago. Nurse Magneto is from OH. You can bet everyone from back home in NYS sent me that video.
@Robyn Well I got the Pfizer shot. When do my magnetic superpowers come in?!?!?!? (Kidding)
Lol I like the response video where the woman says something along the lines of “Car keys are not magnetic. You are not magnetic. You’re sticky. If keys are sticking to you, you need to take a shower.”
We have to follow the federal guidelines. If you’re vaccinated, no mask, if you’re not, mask up. There was a training in my district that was attended by 72 people. So far, 10 reported covid cases, and they expect that number to keep going up. This was within the last month.
I worked in a non-patient facing position in a hospital — I was never within a 100 feet of any patients — and was still required to be up to date on all of my vaccines. And I didn’t even blink, because of course that makes sense. I don’t want a medical professional who doesn’t believe in science any where near me. People who are that stupid should not be providing patient care of any kind, nor cleaning rooms, etc.
My guess is that this group just wanted to make money from a law suit and just didn’t want to work, or expected to have some super facist group set up some sort of fund for them.
and, honestly, while you’re not in a patient facing role you do come into contact with those who may have been exposed to patients which increases your risk
I think those people are all Trumpublicans and ignoring their training & common sense in the name of conservatism
I used to work with someone who is married to a certain government employee that was appointed to a high level position by Trump & was given a very gentle boot from the Biden administration (option to retire or be reassigned). I have been friends with her for 25+ years and while we live on opposite sides of the country & haven’t worked together for ages, am still in touch with her via FB. She’s always been conservative (very religious but never imposed her religious views, had a diverse friend group when we worked together) & was a clinical research professional so while I assumed she always voted Republican, even I was shocked when she posted some of the BS “science” coming from Trumpublican quarters. I took her to task publicly, told her to look at actual data & reminded her of relevant conversations we’d had in the past to prove she would have been highly critical of what she was currently posting (and would have gone to town on the willful ignorance of anyone who shared those views). She called me later to discuss and did remove the posts after I reminded her that she is surrounded by people who will use her posts to believe dangerously inaccurate things as fact & needs to stop working as a cog in a disinformation campaign.
I was an admin in a hospital research building 2 years ago and was required to not only get a flu shot, but my measles/mumps/rubella because so much time had passed since my childhood immunizations. I was not allowed to start my role until I got the shots or supplied a doctor’s note why I couldn’t get them. I never came into contact w patients. I was let go last Aug so not sure what their protocol ended up being for Covid vaccines but as a huge cancer hospital, I assume they encouraged employees to get it ASAP.
I am so glad anti vaxxers don’t get employment protection, especially as the rest of us head back into the workplace.
Welp, Texas is a right-to-work state. And “refuse to vaccinate” is not a protected class.
Yup, I’m guessing quite a few of those who won’t vaccinate are Republicans who supper “right to work” laws. This is just chickens coming home to roost in my opinion.
Yeah, that part is funny.
That was exactly my thought.
Yeah, just like all the “free market” proponents throwing a fit over the labor shortage. Works both way, honeys!
The irony on that is pretty funny
Haha yes. The same people who voted for that law are now feeling the effects of it. Unfortunately like all the other laws they voted for, they won’t get the irony even when it kills them. Literally.
Oh well, sucks to be them I guess.
Maybe they can work at Walmart?
Honestly, I am glad that we don’t seem to have that problem here in UK. We do have a number of people refusing the vaccine or even believes in COVID, but not to the level other countries.
Our problem is the freaking government refusing to shut down the borders quicker.
I read something that 1 in 5 carers in the UK were refusing to get it and I know a few personally who say that it’s too soon and we don’t know what long term harm that it will cause. I understand that you can’t force anyone to have it but I also believe if your carer /nurse/doctor hasn’t been vaccinated, you have the right to know and to refuse treatment from them.
The sad thing is that there is such an enormous shortage of nurses and aides in health care, most facilities are NOT requiring the vaccine. I work in health care (and in an area with some fantastic hospitals). It is obvious many will resign rather than get the vaccine (yes, most are Trumpicans). So, out of fear of our system collapsing, the hospitals and health facilities refuse to require it. It’s disturbing.
i wonder what happens if a patient gets COVID from a hospital employee. I wonder how much that lawsuit will payout for that patient’s family if the persons dies.
I don’t do medical malpractice, but I think that lawsuit would get tossed. Unless you can demonstrate that the patient was 1) Covid negative prior to visiting the hospital, 2) the area of the hospital they visited was completely sterile, 3) they only had interactions with non-vaccinated staff, 4) none of the staff they interacted with wore masks and didn’t adhere to social distancing, 5) the patient did not interact with anyone else at all and did not leave the sterile area, 6) the individual became covid positive while they stayed in the sterile room, 7) the unvaccinated individual was covid positive during the interactions, and then 8) the patient died, you can’t make an argument that exposure to unvaccinated staff at a hospital led directly to that individual contracting covid and the patient’s. There are too many places you can be exposed to the virus to be able to definitively say “I contracted covid from that unvaccinated hospital staff member.” If the conditions above aren’t met, there is little to no chance of proving that you contracted covid at the hospital by the staff member because there are so many other environmental factors at play.
Meant “unvaccinated hospital staff” for point 7.
I know what questions I would ask the family of the deceased: who did the patient interact with before they became covid positive, were all those individuals vaccinated, were they all covid negative throughout the time period of the patient’s exposure (you can still be an asymptomatic carrier while vaccinated, but the vaccine greatly reduces the chances of transmission. It’s still possible though). Did the deceased interact with children, etc. What establishments did the deceased frequent, who were the patrons, would it be reasonable to say that not all the patrons of those businesses were vaccinated. On and on. Just— it’s extremely difficult to prove and you can poke a lot of holes in their allegations that exposure to these specific individuals is what directly caused the infection which then led to the patient’s death.
I am counting the days until we can move out of Texas. So glad the judge ruled against these idiots and hopeful this sets a precedent for other employers to mandate the vaccine. My county is only roughly 50% vaccinated and rates have stalled. We need to do better.
It’s not just Texas, though. I’ve read similar stories about healthcare workers in IL and in MI, where one of my kids goes to college, there are some serious nut jobs. His university isn’t requiring the vaccine come fall and I gotta believe it’s because of all the MAGA parents who have been shrieking since Day 1 of the pandemic about any restrictions. One lady posted on the parent FB page yesterday that “within 3-5 years, all people vaccinated for Covid will be dead.” The ignorance is everywhere.
Well I’m glad I’m vaccinated then because I wouldn’t want to be around when all there was left is the alt right and Q nuts.
I’m in MO, we have one of the lowest vaccination rates. Guess what, also one of the highest rates of the Indian delta variant. Rural hospitals have a 200+% spike in hospitalizations. All of my family is vaccinated except my eight year old grandson. Can’t wait until kids can get protected.
I have a friend in a right-leaning area of Canada who is an ICU nurse. She is one of the most stoic people I know, but the past year and a half has come close to breaking her. Her boyfriend, who has had a front row seat to her exhaustion, frustration, and suffering, is refusing the vaccine because he doesn’t want to “be experimented on”. A middle-class, educated, white male. These people are a disease.
I’m gonna guess Alberta.
Also if you see your partner experience burnout from the pandemic and refuse a vaccine that could ease it you’re a douche. Your poor friend needs to dump his ass.
@Watson, I agree.
@Sarz – I have a suspicion her burnout is partially from him. There’s no way he can be properly supportive of what she is going through with that kind of an attitude.
Heartbreaking.
No brainer- kick his stupid ass to the curb. Nurse here- not in a hospital setting but go to MD offices and local hospitals several times a week. I mask and do not dine out or go to outside entertainment. I only go to the supermarket. I did not get COVID and do not think this is over due to these people not getting vaccinated. The variants will mutate and this is going to start all over again.
Honestly, I’d be seriously reconsidering that relationship if I were in that position. For a partner to witness all this, and still be stubbornly ignorant, that’s just appalling. Not to mention he poses a risk to her, and by extension her patients.
I just thinking about that. What I would do if my partner refused to get vaccinated? Maybe that would be the end of the relationship, at least a turning point.
I think any partner refusing vaccination at this point most likely has also shown other signs of problematic beliefs/behaviors. It is a valid question, however.
I was so glad to heard about this news. People working in the medical field and refusing to get vaccinated should get terminated. It’s a hospital, not effing Walmart. Good these assholes got fired because of their stupidity.
I don’t understand, from a purely selfish point of view, why you would risk being unvaccinated if you work in a hospital? That’s aside all of the more altruistic reasons why you might want to protect your loved ones and vulnerable people you will come into contact with. When I worked with kids, I had to provide proof of vaccinations and get a booster for MMR – it protected me, protected my coworkers, and protected my students and their families.
Nowadays, I teach online, many of my students live in countries where vaccines are still scarce. They would do anything, pay anything, to get access to the lifesaving medicine that is being wasted on ungrateful people.
I volunteered with kids at Beavers-Cubs-Scouts, also, reading, after school and lunch programs for years. I was never once asked about my vaccine record, but I had to be fingerprinted every September for about 11 years.
We’ve been having this problem in the UK with care home workers. A small number of them have been screaming about their bodily autonomy (and quite a number of those subscribe to the QAnon-ish nonsense about the vaccine containing microchips, being designed to control/kill us all). Too bad, say I. If you’re working with vulnerable elderly people, your mission is to protect them. If you don’t want the vaccine, eff off elsewhere.
+1
All these people need to take a good look back at Polio, what a horrible disease – there is a history lesson right there.
I’ve used that very line of reasoning on some of my neighbors who have expressed reluctance to vaccinate their school-age children when the approval comes through (we are all vaccinated in my house except the 8 year-old, and I will sign her up ASAP just like I did with my 13 year-old; he had an appointment the day after the EUA came through!) People lined up for hours for the chance at a polio vaccine, and two generations later, we can’t be bothered. It’s so frustrating.
Don’t hang your head in shame. This is happening in Italy too. Medical personnel that is in direct contact with patients that haven’t been vaccinated and refused to do so have been suspended without pay until December 2021. If the covid situation is still bad they might keep the suspension longer.
My mid-70s father and his wife are not vaccinated. She doesn’t believe in any vaccinations and definitely lives in her own reality, so this is not a shock, but my dad was a bit of a surprise. He claimed he was going to get vaccinated but then seemed to have every excuse why he didn’t yet. A few weeks ago, I told my sister to accept that he’s not going to do it. He said he’s “careful,” so I guess he thinks that’s good enough. The kicker is that he is inclined towards respiratory issues, so if he were to get Covid, it would probably be bad. It’s maddening to have family hell-bent on foolishness.
Maddening, isn’t it? I have an antivaxx family member whose young adult kids bought into her indoctrination wholeheartedly. One of them, early 20s and never had any health issues, got Covid and has been hospitalized twice from its effects. But they view this as a test from god of their faith and that it’s for god’s glory that he allowed kid to get Covid. Still none of them getting vaccinated.
I suppose it will also be a test and testament of god’s glory if the individual dies on a ventilator with family members only allowed to say goodbye through facetime, followed by said family members being driven to bankruptcy due to the medical costs.
How do some people make it to adulthood…
My sister that is a surgical tech and got the vaccine is convinced my dad is going deaf from the vaccine. My mom was like, no, he’s been going deaf for a while.
My mother-in-law won’t get vaccinated. She’s saying she has a medical reason (she did have a very scary medical incident two years ago) and her doctor doesnt think she can get it…..but there’s really nothing to support that she can’t get it. We don’t think she even asked her doctor about it. Yes she is a Trump supporter and we’re pretty sure she thinks the election was stolen.
She lives a few hours away from us but our boys are going this summer to spend a week with my husband’s aunt, her sister (who IS fully vaccinated, as is her whole family) and we’re going to have to talk about what to do when grandma wants to see them. Outdoors only with a mask? Social distance?
My parents’ friends refused to get vaccinated. They were both near 80 and both ended up in the hospital (got it from a grandchild). She died, he spent 10 days there. And he’s totally calm about her death, seems to accept it as inevitable. To me, his refusal to get vaccinated (and it was his idea not to get vaccinated, and she caved) literally killed his wife. He seems totally without shame or remorse. He is what I picture when I hear about these people — someone so perverted by his views that he just does not care about human life, even his wife’s life. Married for almost 60 years.
My parents are also in their 70s and have refused the vaccine. It’s infuriating. We live in an area with high vaccination rates, so they likely won’t have to face the consequences of their stubborn stupidity, and thankfully, my kids are all vaccinated. It’s hard to believe these are the people who raised me.
I live in Houston and vaccination rate has stalled despite the vaccine being free and readily available everywhere, including at Walmart.
You’re ashamed of Texas even tho a hospital enforced vaccination and a Texan judge threw away the lawsuit? Seems appropriate to me
There are many reasons I’m glad I don’t live in Texas any longer, though I LOVED living in Austin, but the judge did the right thing here so it’s 50/50, yay judicial system but boo on the anti vax employees. I’m sure Greg Abbott will try to interject so all they all get their jobs back.
And the recent legislation passed in Texas, from reproductive rights to open carry/no permit needed, diverting funds so Greg Abbott can have his MAGA wall… and Greg Abbott is the devil leading the charge. This week he vetoed a bipartisan bill, a dang miracle in Texas, that would have tightened laws on animal cruelty.
AnnaC, do you ever think some of these POS “conservative” politicians wake up each day and ask themselves “Who can I hurt today?”
Good. Firing is what these people deserve.
And I do not care if this is harsh: if you are virulently anti-vaccine and downplay the risk of COVID and do not follow restrictions, you should be waiving medical care in case you get it. Nothing infuriates me more than seeing breathing machinery and medication used on people who didn’t give a sh*t about anyone but themselves (and are still denying its existence as they get hooked up!) that could be used on, say, immunocompromised people who actually got vaccinated and STILL need those things.
I said what I said.
This is nothing new in hospitals. Vaccinations have always been required for employment.
What’s been interesting about the pandemic is how it is affected labor markets. A nursing and mid level practitioner (NP and PA) shortage could actually lead to long overdue compensation wins. This will work itself out and many who talk a big game now will eventually get vaccinated either because they need a job or because the Delta variant teaches their ass a lesson.
I really, really hope the nurses get the compensation they deserve. They have more than earned it, even before Covid.
Got my second astrazenca shot three days ago and I’m fine, although I have suddenly become obsessed with trains for some reason. 🤔
Texas fired them! That was unexpected and a step in the right direction. I did a little victory dance.
This is unfortunately happening amongst healthcare workers all over the country.
I’m one of only four people in my department who has been vaccinated.
🙄
We are at 44% as a county and a little over 50% as a hospital so I feel your pain and frustration.
As much as we’d like to pretend, it isn’t all the MAGA’s either — I have an entire MAGA branch in the family and they are mostly vaccinated (they don’t advertise the fact though) and a fairly mainstream and left leaning branch that dutifully wear masks, don’t mind social distancing, follow all the rules etc. and yet don’t trust the vaccine.
That hospital handled it perfectly – you are not forced to get it, but you can’t work here without it. Almost everyone I know got vaccinated, except for one stubborn co-worker. I’ve said I’m not not coming back into the office with everyone full time until everyone is vaccinated, and others agree, so it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out.
I’ve been a nurse for 26 years. I’ve seen multiple nurses fired for refusing vaccines in that 26 years. Most places make the flu shot mandatory and nurses did not want to take it. This is nothing new- to me at least. And you can refuse the flu shot due to allergies but everyone I know with allergies had the shot in a controlled setting with an epi-pen and had to wait longer than 15 min post shot. They deserved to be fired and had to know they would be. I am embarrassed by Healthcare antivaxxers. My state did categories based on Frontline workers and elderly then medical staff who weren’t Frontline, I was in the second group and was on the phone getting my appt the minute my category was called.
Well, since all the people now dying from Covid are unvaccinated, maybe the antivaxxers will take themselves out.
Unfortunately I recently learned someone I know has Covid, despite getting both shots. Apparently he’s been fighting cancer, and his immune system couldn’t fight it off even with the vaccine.
There’s still a lot of people who truly, medically can’t get the vaccine, and kids under 12 still can’t.
Healthcare professionals sign up to protect vulnerable populations in need of medical care. If you’re unwilling to get a vaccine for a deadly virus when you’re constantly around the elderly and sick? BYE.
It’s the same in France. My parents work in the hospital and were first in line to be vaccinated, so they did. Also because my little sister has cancer and it was a way to protect her. But in the hospital they work for, 50% of the employees got vaccinated. All the doctors and surgeons got vaccinated, but 50% nurses and even less for all other employees (ambulance, aides, kitchen, admin staff) etc. So disappointing
That’s very worrisome. Any of those nurses or other staff could spread it very quickly to many vulnerable people, and are in contact with so many, why wouldn’t they want to protect themselves?
So nobody sees anything wrong with the Government or other entities forcing you to put a substance IN YOUR BODY that is still in a very experimental phase? OKAAAY!
“The government” isn’t forcing anyone to do anything, nor is anyone else. The hospital in the story is a PRIVATE hospital and it simply told employees that if they don’t get vaccinated, they can’t work there anymore. The employees are perfectly free to go without vaccination, they just have to find new jobs elsewhere.
It’s a daily struggle- the people I work with are some of the most highly educated people you can meet, but still so, so ignorant. It was frustrating and infuriating last December to watch people who were so fortunate to have one of the first opportunities to be vaccinated flat-out refuse it, especially knowing how many others were desperate for the chance to get the shots. We are required to show proof of several vaccinations (Hepatitis B, MMR, etc.) to get credentialed before we can even walk through the door, so COVID vaccine requirement shouldn’t be any different. Also: the hospital doesn’t want to absorb the cost of you being out sick or quarantined for two weeks, which is the reason some have rules about not letting you use sick time if you refused the flu shot and come down with the flu. Employees are an investment of training time and money and hospitals want to protect their investment.
My grandmother lives in an assisted-living home where 40% of the staff are refusing to be vaccinated. 40-freaking-percent! This is Massachusetts, a very blue state, and as far as I know no one is being fired over this. I don’t understand how you can work exclusively with elderly people who all have multiple health issues and be this irresponsible about their health. I wish my mom and her siblings would consider moving her to another facility but everyone in my family is a republican so they probably side with the staff.
Here’s what I don’t understand – why aren’t the insurance companies saying anything? They’re spending tons of money on expensive hospitalizations for Covid+ patients, and nobody hates spending money on patient care more than insurance companies.
I’m truly shocked they haven’t told their subscribers that they had to get Vaccinated by, say, July 15th and if they don’t get vaccinated and then get Covid, no healthcare costs associated with Covid would be covered.
Kudos to Methodist Hospital – they have always been at the forefront of medicine and I wouldn’t expect anything less from them but to put science first. They saved my life 25 years ago when they were the only place in the United States that was performing an experimental brain procedure. I will forever be grateful to them.
Unpopular opinion, this is still under trial. We are the trial and they can’t force anyone to get it. If you want it, get it….if you don’t want it that’s your right. I have all my shots so I’m not an anti vaccine but I believe in humans rights to decide. I think I’m time, the next five years or so, more people will be opened minded to get it. Maybe they will see we didn’t die from it. I feel like this is just separating Americans more. The past 5 years of election crap, the lies from both sides. Honestly I trust nobody. It’s a sad time. Everyone is just telling each side they are ignorant and we are getting nowhere.
Funny how you mention both sides. I didn’t see Democrats trying to pull off a violent coup before Trump’s inauguration.
Your decision impacts whether others live or die.
It’s separating people because there are people who are denying science for absolutely no reason.
Slipped in the covert racism. Top shelf, baby
“Stupid opinion…”
You made a typo.
The virus doesn’t care about your so-called sovereignty, though. At which point will you start to trust someone? Because eventually, you will have to—trust, that is. A lot can change in five years, and not always for the better. I hope that you’re actually as open-minded as you’re urging others to be and will move with the times instead of sticking stubbornly to this arbitrary five-year rule.
this is a fair comment, glad it went through
The problem with the both sides argument is that their offenses have to be equal in flagrancy — they aren’t. One side is imperfect and struggles to get its shit together, while the other outright wants to harm us. Forcing unity under the guise of “we were all wrong” misses the point. Worse, it allows the side committing more malicious intent to keep getting away with their offenses.
They aren’t “forcing” anyone to get it though. They aren’t holding them down and forcibly injecting them (unlike, say, forcible sterilizations at the border perpetuated by one of those sides you are ‘both siding’). They aren’t putting a gun to their head and saying “vaccinate or I’ll shoot.” No one has kidnapped their children and said “get the shot or you’ll never see your kid again.” It’s ridiculous to say they are being forced. There are PLENTY of Catholic hospitals around here that, from what I’ve seen, would be more than happy to take on the unvaccinated lot of them. It’s funny how “right-to-work” is a good thing until it impacts the ‘wrong’ people. This is no different than the people throwing tantrums in stores because they were told to wear a mask or leave. Being an anti-science idiot is not discriminatory characteristic. You are right that it’s their right to not get it. It’s also the hospital’s right to declare it mandatory for further employment. They can leave and find another job if they find it so onerous.
Good on Methodist, in this Houstonian’s opinion. Proof of a veritable litany of vaccines is required before being hired, or even applying for schooling to be an RN in the first place. Why are the COVID vaccines different? There is more safety data on them then there has been for a ton of other things that most people find just fine, and there is at least proof it works, unlike all the praying-crystal-Bach-homeopathic 100X-random supplement-just add bleach&dayglo spray tan woowoo the anti-vaxxers like to spout. I hope I hear of MD Anderson following suit shortly.
Native Texan here. All of my immediate family are vaccinated with the exception of my brother who is diabetic and has congestive heart failure, although he would take the vaccine if he could. When he is around our Mom he keeps his distance and wears a mask.
I have family members who absolutely refuse to get the vaccine and lemme tell you the reasons would curl your hair. I cannot believe I have the same bloodline as these morons. I have told every single one of them they are NOT welcome in my home and to stay the hell away from my Mom and brother or the shit storm i will rain down on them will be epic
Can you just imagine the former employees of Methodist Houston trying to get another job in the health field?
Potential employer: “Why did you leave your last job?
Applicant: ” I was terminated/quit because i refused to be vaccinated ”
Potential employer: “ummmmmmm”
Good
As a Canadian waiting to get my second shot of Pfizer, it infuriates me that Michigan is throwing away 60 000 Pfizer shots instead of giving them to us. Most Canadians would gladly PAY for a damn shot, yet in America they are literally paying people to get one ! It’s insane.
Speaking as someone who lives in Houston, I feel like these people wouldn’t have done this if they weren’t confident they could get jobs somewhere else, and they probably will. There are a ton of healthcare jobs in this town. Specifically, the Texas Medical Center is the biggest medical complex in the world, bigger than most big city’s downtowns, and it’s just medical offices, hospitals and medical schools, of which Methodist is just one of several. And Methodist isn’t just a single hospital, it’s a chain, and it’s one of the biggest in the city. There are multiple Houston Methodist locations, with varying degrees of specialties, and probably tens of thousands of employees in the entire system, and there are other similar chains here as well. Some aren’t as good as Methodist, which has a great reputation that is probably the reason why they’re willing to fire these people.
So less than 200 employees being anti-vax loons that got themselves fired from good jobs isn’t as crazy as it sounds given how huge the healthcare industry is here. They’ll easily get a job elsewhere unless the other hospital systems ask Methodist for a blacklist, and there hasn’t been any word about that happening.
And not for nothing, If they were genuinely concerned and didn’t want to lose their jobs, they could have bullshitted a religious exemption. Because people claiming a religious exemption to not get vaccinated were not fired. These jamokes wanted to make a political statement, and that’s it.
@ Plums It is also a really good advertisement for this hospital. We care and all our staff care which is why everyone is vaccinated.
There’s a pretty strong correlation between a state’s quality of education and its vaccination rate – no surprise there. I am so grateful to live in Massachusetts.
I work in a school and our SCHOOL NURSE has refused the vaccine. Because she thinks it’s “too dangerous” a number of the teachers have refused it too. These same people didn’t care if me, a high risk person, died. In fact another coworker who is a cancer survivor and I were treated like garbage by all the teachers for essentially being confined to our offices every day and only seeing kids over Zoom. “Think playground duty is too good for you huh?”
Big yikes. I understand being hesitant. I was at first, and I’m not anti-v. I was just nervous about it after hearing about some of the more extreme reactions that people had had, but I knew that if I put it off and then got really sick, I’d be kicking my own ass for not getting it done when I had the chance. I also didn’t want to risk making anyone around me sick, even mildly.
What helped was seeing how it affected people I knew personally, and putting less stock in shit that I read online by people who may or may not have been telling the truth. I didn’t know anyone who had strong side effects, not even those who were older or had chronic health problems.
When I went back to university for grad school, I had to get new measles/mumps/rubella and diphtheria/tetanus vaccines because I couldn’t find my vaccination records. This was during the middle of covid and I couldn’t get in to see my doctor unless it was an emergency. I had to go to the student health center to do it. Then, I ended up being online until last month. Just crazy how medical professionals are refusing the vaccine. One of the members of my team refuses to get it because his sister is a Physicians Assistant and for some stupid reason SHE’s not getting one. SMH.
I feel like I am in Bizarro World, at this point. This is going to be long, I’m sorry, I have lots of feelings.
I chose to vaccinate my son (now 11), for all the usual things like MMR, etc., on a modified schedule, i.e. spreading out the vaccines over time so he didn’t get more than 2 on any given day. What that means, practically, is I had to take him for a well visit more often than the AAP would prefer, they really appreciate expediency, which I also get. I am certain doctors face parents of kids who don’t trust vaccines every single day, and also parents who let years lapse between their children’s well visits, but that was not the case with my son, or me.
He was fully vaccinated, just like every other kid, when he started school. My decision affected no one, other than myself, because I had to find the time to take him to the doctor more often than the AAP suggests, to get his vaccines spread out.
I am honest enough to admit that I didn’t really base it on any sort of science, in the beginning, but they wanted to give my newborn a vaccine for a sexually transmitted disease, and I feel like I am responsible enough to ensure that my child doesn’t have sex before he is, let’s just say 8, for the sake of this discussion. I was post-partum, and when a nurse showed up to vaccinate him for an STD, I lost all of my marbles. It was really embarrassing, in hindsight.
The amount of arguments I had, within my own family even, much less other parents, boggled my mind, and that was BEFORE Covid. Again, my decision for my son affected NONE of them. I feel like I need to stick up for myself, a bit, and give the disclaimer that NOT ONE of my decisions for my son re. vaccines were based on anything coming out of Jenny McCarthy’s mouth. That was always the presumption, when I said I was vaccinating over a longer period of time.
Those SAME family members are yelling at me NOT to get my son vaccinated for Covid when he is 12, because they are worried about what it will do to his young body. I joked to them that I was going to attempt to change his birth certificate to turning 12 in January 2021, rather than 2022, and they acted like I was going to actively have a hand in my son’s murder.
Right. Okay. Thanks, Trump.
They have right to refuse
Hospital had right to fire them
I work in higher education and I’m very nervous about how fast our campus leadership is discarding Covid safety measures. I’m in the majority that feels that if students and staff are expected to be on campus for work and classes, then it should be a requirement that they are vaccinated for Covid. The refusal of both the chancellor and interim president at the system wide level to make it mandatory is just the latest example of our chancellor’s failed leadership. I wish she would grow a spine and stand up the the ignorant, science denying Republicans in our state.
It feels too soon to start relaxing the Covid safety measures, including wearing masks, being aware of how crowded our interior spaces are, and using the app that was used to confirm a recent negative test. I’m appalled that my area’s leadership made the decision to allow the general public back into our spaces next week. It was made by people who aren’t the ones who have to enforce our policies, and rarely work any public service shifts.
Most units are short staffed and it’s going to be stressful having to deal with some public patrons that never thought our policies applied to them pre covid. One silver lining of restricting our spaces to users with campus affiliation only for the past year was that we had far fewer incidents when we had to file security incident reports and call the police. I am not looking forward to dealing with patrons who complain about not being able to use our computers because they require campus logins. As a woman, I did not miss being sexually harassed by male patrons, including being told to smile, and being called a “f****** bitch” because by one patron whom I had banned after I observed him using a login that he shouldn’t have been using multiple times. After that, I filed an incident report and got him banned from a second location.
I wonder if you could sue if your nurse gave you covid because they were unvaxxed? Isn’t this a legality issue?