- Reaction score
- 691
- Location
- theGreatSwamp
. BTW - Floriduh hospitals at capacity treating the HOAX.
...but what really matters is.. the lecshun wuz stole.
They were hard to miss on the corner of a busy four-way intersection at the entrance to Winchester Medical Center: a group of about 20 people - many of them nurses, some in scrubs - protesting the hospital's recent coronavirus vaccine mandate.
Some were on a quasi-strike, skipping a day of work to stand on the side of the road in scorching heat, holding signs that demanded, "NO FORCED VACCINATION."
A 16-year-old son of a health-care worker yelled on loop, "Honk for medical freedom!" and many did. A firetruck honked. An EMT gave a thumbs-up. An ambulance bleeped its sirens and truck driver after truck driver yanked on their horns - until every so often, an angry voice cut through the traffic and a middle finger jutted out the car window.
"'I hope you all get fired!" one driver yelled as he passed the unvaccinated protesters.
"We're going to!" one woman responded. "You'll need us next week!"
The nurses' employer, Valley Health, the parent company of Winchester Medical Center, had given them an ultimatum: Get the shot or face termination. And those standing on the street corner Tuesday had already made up their minds.
Valley Health announced a vaccine mandate for its 6,300 employees at its six locations on July 19, while offering religious and medical exemptions for eligible applicants. The hospital system joins a growing number of medical institutions, universities, governments and companies that have turned to employee vaccine requirements to ensure the safest possible workplaces as the highly contagious delta variant ushers in another deadly wave. For the majority of Valley Health employees, the policy was not a problem; 75 percent are fully vaccinated, the company said.
But in a region where vaccination rates are lower than they are statewide, Valley Health's mandate prompted a furious community debate, with numerous protests outside Valley Health's hospitals in Front Royal and Winchester, and pleas from unvaccinated people demanding intervention from local government to stop the mandate.
In Winchester, 57% of the adult population is fully vaccinated, compared with 66% statewide. Meanwhile, in neighboring rural Warren County, where Valley Health's newest hospital - Warren Memorial Hospital - is located, only 46% of the adult population is fully vaccinated.
Those standing outside the Winchester hospital Tuesday said they had weighed the risks, and despite more than 620,000 deaths from covid-19 in the United States, they still viewed the vaccine as riskier. Some cited exceedingly rare but serious side effects - myocarditis tied to Pfizer-BioNTech's and Moderna's vaccines and blood clots tied to Johnson & Johnson's. Some pointed to misinformation about fertility issues. Others said they were banking on natural immunity after contracting the virus last year.
Inside Winchester Medical Center, other staffers have watched their colleagues' protestations with unease.
"Being in the health-care profession, it's bigger than just yourself," said Sherri Thorton, a nurse in the emergency room. "You've dedicated your life and your profession to taking care of people and doing no harm to anyone, and I think you have to protect not only yourself but your patients."
More than that, she didn't understand her unvaccinated colleagues' risk calculation.
Since the pandemic began, as the ER's charge nurse, she has treated and interviewed covid-19 patients about their symptoms, and now, their vaccination status.
Even though hospitalizations are up statewide, Thorton said that in her unit it's still not comparable to the first wave of the pandemic. But one thing has stood out, at least in her own experience:
For two months, every covid-19 patient she has seen in the emergency room has not been vaccinated.
