Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update: When vaccine requirements are announced, whether in the military, a company, or a hospital, there is attention paid to the often dozen(s) who protest.

Less attention is paid to the thousands who get vaccinated. 1/

The story is told over & over.

Hospitals in Texas and Oregon had protests & lawsuits from staff when they announced vaccine requirements early this year.

Yet a much larger a number became vaccinated. 2/

The US military, at one point 50% vaccinated, is now at 90%.

Most NCAA teams are now between 85% & 100%. The NFL 94%.

A slew of early companies who put in requirements are now at 90%. 3/

Now today health care workers in New York State are having a protest calling for “medical freedom.”

Well, about 100 people are having a protest. 4/

There probably needs to be some rule which says you shouldn’t be able to have more news stories about a protest than there are protesters. 5/

Medical freedom is the cause.

Well, not quite “cause” exactly. Maybe “table.” Or “gathering.” “Minion.” How about “cache.” Maybe “clique.”

The idea is that it’s ok to be “free” to treat sick people in hospitals without being vaccinated. For religious reasons. 6/

Governor Hochul in New York says no. Your religion is your business. But it has nothing to do with whether you can show up to work infectious. 7/

Unless you’re a member of the First Church of Holy Vaccinations, I don’t think anyone much cares what your religion is. 8/

There’s no constitutional protection guaranteeing your right to show your religion by putting others at risk.

Want a religious exemption not to say the Pledge of Allegience? Sure. But want a religious exemption to keep kids from school working in the field? No. 9/

Your religion doesn’t allow you to violate laws or put people at risk. And just because 100 people say as much and a nut job lawyer wants to be famous by taking the case doesn’t make it so. 10/

No one in NY is telling nurses they need to be vaccinated. They’re saying they can’t nurse other people without being vaccinated.

That will lead to the implementation of something the president announced last month. 11/

That hospitals and nursing homes and doctors that want to get paid by Medicare must have a fully vaccinated workforce.

This too will be challenged by legal minds, some as sharp even as Rudy Giuliani. 12/

The logic is straightforward as someone who used to run the Medicare program will tell you. Find someone who has and here’s what they will say:

If you’re going to take care of older people who we pay for, you have to follow rules that prevent them from getting infected. 13/

Medicare makes rules like this all the time. It’s the job of Medicare to make rules like this.

Don’t like those rules, don’t participate in the Medicare program. 14/

Safety is neither political nor is it to be confused with religion. They are the right of societies to keep people safe. 15/

Some have an unhealthy obsession— and misconception— of freedom. God didn’t actually grant you freedom. Someone fought for it. Your ancestors. Soldiers. Freedom fighters. Suffragettes.

In other words someone who sacrificed in difficult times. 16/

And I guess you could call a pandemic a difficult time. A time when people do what they have to, not what they want to. 17/

If you think some government tyrant is relishing at taking away your freedom, trust me on this: they don’t like this any more than you do. You’re not that much of a pleasure. It’s no one’s idea of fun trying to talk you into adult behavior. 18/

It is a vital right to protest. To quit a job with rules you don’t like. To peacefully protest. To hold up a sign with a poorly drawn needle with a red line through it.

Express your rights & your religion safely. Just let other people enjoy theirs. /end