With President Joe Biden taking extraordinary steps to coerce businesses to establish vaccine mandates, coming on the heels of the president’s announced vaccine mandates for health care facilities receiving Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, a move that impacted millions of workers in the industry, the termination of those who remain unvaccinated are now under way.
Despite hospitals and other facilities across the country facing serious staffing shortages for nurses and other healthcare professionals, hundreds are being fired or placed on unpaid leave until they come into compliance.
David J. Harris shared video footage of a woman named Amy, purportedly an ICU nurse at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, saying she was being escorted off property because she is not vaccinated. She was being trailed by a man who looked to be a security guard.
“So, I’m being escorted out of UCLA for standing up for medical freedom, despite coming to work — willing to work. And I just can’t believe that this is what they are doing right now,” the woman said, her emotions welling up. “I’m going to fight for all of us out there and I will continue to fight. And this is not OK, I came to work despite being unvaccinated, willing to work. For patients, to help out staff, and this is how we are treated.”
ICU nurse at @uclahealth kicked out of hospital, over not complying with the jab… We stand with you Tara! pic.twitter.com/94na7ZnpJj
— David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) October 12, 2021
The Beverly Hills Courier reported that an anesthesiologist at UCLA Health, Christopher Rake, MD, was escorted off the medical campus last Monday after trying to enter the workplace despite being unvaccinated. Rake was reportedly placed on unpaid administrative leave by the health system.
Rake also recorded a video of his departure, while being escorted by a man wearing a mask.
“This is what happens when you stand up for freedom, and when you show up for work, willing to work, despite being unvaccinated. This is the price you have to pay sometimes,” Rake said in the footage. “But what they don’t realize is that I’m willing to go lose everything: job, paycheck, freedom, even my life, for this cause.”
UCLA anesthesiologist Dr. Chris Rake, a COVID-19 vaccine mandate opponent, was escorted out of the UCLA medical plaza yesterday and placed on unpaid administrative leave for refusing to get vaccinated or request an exemption.
“I’m willing to go lose everything…even my life.” pic.twitter.com/7AxUX4uyeF
— Samuel Braslow (@SamBraslow) October 6, 2021
“Following University of California policy and a state public health order issued August 5, UCLA requires employees who are not working remotely to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or to receive an exemption, the university said in an emailed statement,” Medscape Medical News reported. “The order stated that all in-person employees at healthcare facilities must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 30, or receive an exemption based on religious beliefs or qualifying medical reasons.
“Those out of compliance are subject to progressive discipline, including restricting access to work sites and being placed on leave,” UCLA Health said in the statement.
Rake participated in an anti-vaccination rally on August 29, as seen in the video below.
“Last year I put my life on the line, I put on all the protective equipment, I dealt with COVID patients,” he can be heard telling the crowd. “Now this year, I’m a zero. This year they want to force an evacuation or medication, a treatment into my body that I don’t want. They’re telling me, ‘You take the jab or we take your job.’ And I’m here to say no, that’s not okay.”
Dr. Christopher Rake, an anesthesiologist from UCLA medical center, tells the crowd, “They want to force a vaccination or medication or treatment into my body that I don’t want. So they’re telling me, ‘Take the jab or we take your job.’ And I’m here to say no. That’s not ok.” pic.twitter.com/wP2kZyS1o7
— Andrew Kimmel (@andrewkimmel) August 30, 2021
Oakland-based Kaiser Permanente Hospital & Health Care announced last week 2,200 of its employees were placed on unpaid leave as of Oct. 1, and that they have until Dec. 1 to either get vaccinated job or risk losing their jobs permanently, CBS Los Angeles reported.
The New York Times reported that Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in New York, announced 1,400 of its employees were fired for not getting vaccinated before the required deadline.
All of which suggests that the ensuing staff shortages may prove to be more costly than not getting vaccinated. Particularly so, given that many of those who reject the shot have previously had COVID-19 and have natural immunity — which some studies have shown is even more effective than the vaccine.
A Twitter user who purported to be a neonatal intensive care unit nurse posted a series of tweets about the potential health risks related to understaffing that will only be made more severe if administrators insist on full vaccine compliance for the workforce, saying her supervisor “begged” early arrivals to clock in before their shift normally started.
“Already minus 8 nurses on a 60 bed unit which means every nurse with stable babies will have 4 patients and the nurses with critical babies will have 3. That’s not safe. Walk to my area and there’s no time to sit for report because 2 babies just arrived at the same time,” she explained.
Ultimately, we seem to find ourselves facing the prospect former President Donald Trump warned about last year, which is that the cure may soon prove to be worse than the disease.
And the fallout is not reserved for the medical field, as airlines may soon face a pilot shortage, resulting in a transportation and logistics nightmare for the country.
Commercial pilot Joshua Yoder, co-founder of U.S. Freedom Flyers, appeared on Fox News Monday night to say pilots and others should not be forced to submit to a vaccine mandate.
“First of all, we have all the control, and the control comes from a simple word, and that is ‘no’,” Yoder said. “We just don’t need to comply.”
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The longest-tenured writer at BizPac Review, Tom grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills.
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