Will hospital employees who care for COVID-19 patients and refuse the vaccine change their minds now that Pfizer has dropped its “emergency” status and moved to full approval? Surprisingly, a significant number of health care employees, including those working in nursing homes, have refused to take the vaccination. But it gets worse.
In Cobb County Georgia, a surgical tech was “no longer an employee,” according to Wellstar Healthcare System officials. Jessica Renzi released a TikTok video that compared her employer’s vaccine mandate to the Holocaust. After the video went viral, it has since been deleted.
Renzi’s video showed a hand-drawn “tattoo” with her vaccine lot number. It copied that style of tattoos forced upon concentration camps during the Holocaust. The “numbers” spelled “a vulgar phrase” according to WSB-TV.
Medical center officials issued a statement. It indicated that Renzi “is no longer an employee of Wellstar:
‘Jessica Renzi is no longer an employee of Wellstar Health System. At Wellstar, we stand strongly against anti-Semitism as well as comments or behavior of any kind that do not serve our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.’
‘We are dedicated to fostering an environment where all team members treat others with compassion and respect. Wellstar remains steadfast in our mission to enhance the health and wellbeing of every person we serve.’
Wellstar mandates that its employees must have their vaccinations complete by October 1. About 150 of the medical center’s employees protested in front of its corporate headquarters.
The employees did not know whether their protest will make a difference with the medical center, but they wanted to make their views known.
One protester Darrell Hester said:
‘Call it unconstitutional, call it whatever you want. You’ve got medicine out here that’s taking years, decades to be approved and then you see you on TV now they say, “Hey, if you or your loved one has taken such a such a product, call this lawyer.” Well, this has only taken months and it pushed through, yeah, that’s a little scary.’
The Anti-Defamation League released a statement condemning the employee’s words. It stated that “using the Holocaust as part of an analogy is hurtful to many people:”
‘The use of Nazi and Holocaust analogies is deeply offensive, even traumatizing, especially to the families of those who perished and lost loved ones in World War II.’
‘For Jewish families, Holocaust analogies trigger fear around one of the darkest, most antisemitic times in recent history, and these present-day analogies come at a time of heightened antisemitism in the US felt very clearly by American Jews.
‘Especially as the world deals with fear around the fragility of the pandemic, invoking Holocaust analogies only functions to further distrust and anxiety, not bring us together forward.’
Wellstar’s officials have not indicated whether Renzi was fired or resigned.
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
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