Yesterday, our tenant, a nurse, who works with her husband at a large nursing home in the city texted us with the news that another nurse at work tested positive for Covid 19. The nurse had declined to receive the vaccination for the virus.
So, now the nursing home is on lockdown, all the staff and clients must be tested, an ordeal for the many that have dementia. The clients’ families are upset.
Fortunately for our tenants, their children are away with a friend’s family vacation in Oregon, but should there be further cases at the home, they will have to go back to the protocol they used to avoid bringing germs home before vaccinations.
All in all, our tenants are angry that some of the people that work with those most vulnerable to Covid 19 refused to take the vaccine.
The question is should employers be allowed to mandate vaccinations?
What if the nurse who declined to get the vaccine knew about its effect on the reproductive health of women, and didn’t want to risk ruining her chances of having children? Or for any of the many other dangerous side effects we’ve heard of?
I can see why they want to protect old people from it, and I think it would be reasonable to require the nurse to wear a mask around them. But I don’t think anyone should be required to take the vaccine, no matter where they work.
It’s experimental, and even if it wasn’t- it’s a violation of one’s rights to require it.
I agree with what you say, Liz. I am on the fence, however, with this particular situation and others that may be similar. They are already wearing masks at work, as are most healthcare facilities still wearing masks and requiring masks for appointments.
All clients of the nursing homes have been vaccinated, but I suppose there may be some that could not be vaccinated. I am not sure that they were given a choice. I guess there was the choice for their family to remove them to home care.
I have to wonder if all healthcare employees were given a choice. I know that people in our area are deciding to get the vaccine now because of the Delta variant. Our county has an extremely high percentage of our population vaccinated, but our surrounding counties are showing contagion and many children that have contracted it.
It is a choice, should be a choice. But, when there is a “hostage” group of vulnerable people to deal with…well, it is also a choice to work some place else.
