[ad_1]
- The campaign began with the dismissal of a nurse for failing to comply with a vaccination warrant at a hospital in Texas.
- He helped fund a lawsuit against the hospital. This lawsuit was dismissed in June.
- An anonymous donor contributed $ 50,000 to the campaign.
The online fundraising platform GoFundMe has suppressed a campaign started by a Texas nurse who sought to cancel a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, telling Insider that after further examination, the fundraiser – which had grossed over $ 180,000 – was at odds with its anti-disinformation policy.
Begun in April, the campaign was led by Jennifer Bridges, a former Houston Methodist Hospital graduate nurse who was fired after refusing to be vaccinated.
With the money raised on GoFundMe, Bridges, who appeared on Fox News to discuss her opposition to taking the vaccine, filed a court challenge against the warrant in May. In the lawsuit, lawyers for Bridges and dozens of other employees who joined the litigation were forced by the Texas hospital to take an “experimental” vaccine.
Bridges, according to his attorney’s legal file, likens the vaccination warrants “to forced medical experimentation during the Holocaust.”
This lawsuit was dismissed in June. Bridges’ attorneys have appealed the decision.
Jennifer Bridges’ campaign has raised more than $ 180,000 since its launch in April 2021.
Screenshot / GoFundMe
“When our team initially looked at fundraising, it was part of our terms of service as the funds were for legal fees to fight immunization warrants,” said Heidi Hagberg, spokesperson for GoFundMe, in a statement. communicated to Insider. “The fundraiser has since been updated to include misinformation that violates our terms of service.”
The subsequent review came after Insider pointed out statements on the campaign page that questioned not only the mandates, but the safety of the vaccines themselves. However, since the campaign was “on our terms at the time of withdrawal,” Hagberg said, Bridges will be able to keep the money.
Originally, Bridges’ campaign – which received an anonymous donation of $ 50,000 – had portrayed opposition to the vaccine’s mandate as linked to concerns that it had not been “fully approved by the FDA.” .
In August, however, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to the vaccine from Pfizer-BioNTech, which had previously received emergency use authorization based on clinical trial data.
The full approval did not change Bridges’ view. A September update from her fundraising was provocative: “No one should ever be forced to inject something into their body that is not safe against their will.”
In a video posted as part of the campaign, from a rally on “medical freedom” after FDA approval, Bridges scoffed at the evidence that vaccines are safe, saying he witnessed it provoking it. miscarriages and death. “All lives matter,” she said.
Globally, only one death in New Zealand has been linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, although it is not clear whether the actual cause is. A recent study also found that there was no connection with mRNA vaccines and increased rates of miscarriages. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all people over the age of 12, “including those who are pregnant,” get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Bridges did not immediately respond to a message asking him to respond to GoFundMe’s decision. Houston Methodist declined to comment.
GoFundMe, which cut the fundraiser on Friday, said it cut “hundreds” of similar fundraisers that promoted “vaccine-related misinformation.”
But the fundraising platform hasn’t removed all the campaigns that make questionable claims about COVID-19 vaccines. At least two dozen medical workers fired for refusing to be vaccinated have active fundraisers at the site.
New York-licensed medical assistant Deborah Conrad has raised more than $ 68,000 in less than two weeks for living and travel expenses to attend events where she denounces vaccination warrants, claiming in the collection of funds that medical authorities are committed to a “cover for possible injuries related to the Covid 19 vaccine [sic]. “
The company, which cuts donations by 2.9%, insists fundraising does not violate its policy.
Do you have a tip? Email this reporter: [email protected]
[ad_2]
Source link