The State of New York has mandated that its health care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 (and the Delta variant) by today, and it appears a number of health care covidiots there are refusing to do so. As a consequence, they risk losing their jobs, which given the science and evidence that vaccinations are extremely effective in limiting the virus' impact is hard to fathom:
"Experts have called the mandate a clear-cut way for health care workers to prevent new waves of the virus from spreading, and to persuade doubters to get vaccinated. And health systems say the plan is crucial to keeping patients and staff safe.
Westchester Medical Center Health Network, where 94 percent of the systems’s 12,000 workers are vaccinated, called the mandate 'a critical part of upholding our mission,' in a statement on Sunday."
One anti-vaxxer, Deborah Conrad a physician assistant in upstate New York, claims that she fears "side effects" that she claims to have seen (<cough> Fox News), but which run counter to evidence of the vaccine's safety record. She's seemingly baffled at why her vaccinated co-workers see her as a danger to their health:
“We were all traumatized, vaccinated and unvaccinated,” said Ms. Conrad, who works at United Memorial, a hospital in Batavia, a small city midway between Rochester and Buffalo, and felt respected by colleagues there. “It’s very hard that the same people who elevated me to this level now look at me as a dangerous person.” (our emphasis)
Perhaps because you ARE a danger to their and their patients' safety, COVID Conrad. The good news is that an estimated 95 percent of nurses in the state are vaccinated, according to the nurses' union. But it's a vocal, and likely partisan minority that are rejecting the vaccine, and whose firing -- despite causing an initial strain on health care organizations -- may be a blessing in disguise for the rest of us.
BONUS: Columnist Leonard Pitts has a send off for the anti-vax employees: goodbye and good riddance.
