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- Karen Roses of Riverhead, New York, was fired from a Northwell Health hospital for refusing to take the coronavirus vaccine.
- New York’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate went into effect on September 27, requiring healthcare workers in hospitals and nursing homes to receive their first dose.
- Roses is among a fraction of healthcare workers who would rather be made redundant than receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Karen Roses worked at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead, New York for over three years as a patient care technician. She said the pandemic had been grueling, leaving medical staff exhausted and hospitals understaffed. Then came the vaccination mandate.
“They come out with the warrant, and they just threw us under the bus,” Roses, 64, said of the healthcare workers. She called the hospital “insensitive” for firing employees regardless of how long they were employed at the hospital or whether they were seeking medical or religious exemptions for the vaccine.
According to the state mandate that came into effect in August, healthcare workers in New York City hospitals and nursing homes were to have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine by September 27, while workers in hospitals and nursing homes in New York home care, hospices and adult care facilities have until October. 7. Roses ended the day after the vaccination deadline.
Roses said unvaccinated healthcare workers are singled out and blamed for the ongoing pandemic, despite early suggestions that those vaccinated may also spread the coronavirus. However, a recent study found that COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce the transmission of the virus by 36 to 65 percent depending on whether a person took Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, NBC News reported.
In Suffolk County, where Peconic Bay Medical Center is located, 80% of hospital workers are fully vaccinated, according to data from September 29. Statewide, 87% of hospital workers are fully immunized. As a result of the tenure, the vaccination rate for hospital workers doubled compared to the rate for adults in the state.
“It’s not just healthcare workers. It’s everyone,” said Roses.
Roses said the immunization mandates – which have been rolled out nationwide for healthcare facilities and businesses – “take away freedom of choice” from those affected. Roses added that she was not anti-vaccine and had taken other vaccines in the past.
“I don’t feel safe in my own country anymore, and that is really what I think is my strongest feeling,” said Roses. “Now I feel like a target.”
As Insider’s Allana Akhtar previously reported, some healthcare systems have blamed unvaccinated healthcare workers for staffing shortages, but the problem of unvaccinated healthcare workers can be overstated.
Roses said she will not get the vaccine because he felt “rushed” and “forced”, and that does not guarantee that she will not catch coronavirus or spread it to others. Experts said the vaccine was developed quickly because countries and organizations invested heavily in its development, which saved time, as Insider’s Mary Meisenzahl previously reported.
“God could come down and say, ‘You have to take this vaccine.’ And I was like, ‘Sorry, Charlie,’ “Roses said. “It’s not something that someone in particular or a specific group has to tell me it’s safe. My research should tell me it’s safe. The people I talk to … I don’t really know how to explain this, but I’m nice to have to see it for myself. ”
In its termination letter, which was shared with Insider, Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider that owns Peconic Bay Medical Center, said Roses had been warned “on several occasions” of the obligation for her to be vaccinated or to be dismissed. The letter added that if she received her first dose in “the near future” she would be eligible for re-employment at the hospital.
A spokesperson for Peconic Bay, a health facility in Northwell, told Insider that Northwell had taken “a swift and aggressive approach” to move towards full vaccination of its employees.
“Unfortunately, we had to leave a few hundred employees, but we are happy to report that most of the team members are choosing to be vaccinated in order to avoid being made redundant,” said Victoria Palacio, porte – spoke from Peconic Bay, adding that she could not comment on how many employees were fired from Peconic Bay in particular.
Northwell Health spokesperson Andrea Mineo told Insider that as of September 27, unvaccinated employees have been taken out of the health care system.
Northwell regrets losing an employee in such circumstances, but as medical professionals and members of the state’s largest healthcare provider, we understand our unique responsibility to protect the health of our patients and from each other, ”Mineo said. “We owe it to our staff, patients and the communities we serve to be 100% vaccinated against COVID-19. “
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