By MITCH HOTTS
PUBLISHED: August 29, 2021 at 9:44 p.m.
UPDATED: August 30, 2021 at 11:05 a.m.
Source: Macomb Daily
Unsplash, Ederce Stansberry
When one discusses vaccine hesitation the rebuttals involve everything from lack of enough clinical research to too politicized to religious reasons. In deed, may religious leaders had and have much to say regarding the pandemic and raising many religious objections to such vaccines.
Carrying signs with messages such as “Unmask our children” and “I do not co-parent with the government,” hundreds of health care workers and others held a rally in front of a Clinton Township hospital Sunday to protest forced vaccinations.
As of noon, an estimated 2,000 people lined both sides of the sidewalk along 19 Mile Road, west of Garfield Road, in front of Henry Ford Macomb Hospital. They yelled slogans, waved to passing cars as motorists honked their horns and sang “God Bless America” on a steamy hot afternoon. They were protesting mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for employees, contractors and others. Workers say Sept. 10 is the deadline to undergo the treatment or face “voluntary” termination. “My employer is not going to tell me that I have to take a shot,” said Frank Tanner, who said he worked at Henry Ford. “When I was hired here, I wasn’t told I’d have to have a shot. Now, 35 years later they are forcing me to take one. We all know in Oakland and Macomb counties it’s about the votes and it’s about money. I will be doggone if you’re going to tell us we have to take a shot — no. It’s tyranny.”
Protestors said they aren’t opposed to the vaccine itself — some on Sunday acknowledge they’ve received it — it’s the fact that business or government can force that as a condition of employment that they objected to.
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Don Parkinson of Macomb County, who is not a health care worker but is acting as a mouthpiece for some, said Sunday’s rally attracted many outside of the health care industry who are simply “freedom fighters.”
“If they end up firing a third of their staff because they don’t want a shot, the hospital will have to terminate people in order to accomplish that. That’s unfortunate. We don’t want to see people lose their jobs, we want to seem them have a choice in the matter,” Parkinson said.
Henry Ford Health System became the first known hospital system in the state to require all 33,000 of its employees to get vaccinated.
Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health System, said in a statement that the vaccines are safe, effective and the “most powerful tool” available to fight the pandemic.
“The recent decision by the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) to grant full approval to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine further solidified what we already knew. As the first health system in Michigan to require vaccination for our workforce, we remain confident in our decision and are pleased to see broad support for a vaccine requirement across healthcare and in other industries,” Riney said in the statement.
Should COVID 19 vaccine mandates be allowed? Are you fully vaccinated? Do you know of anyone who was fully vaccinated who passed away?
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