Covid Vaccine: Why Some US Workers Won't Get Jabbed

Image caption,Demonstrations have taken place in cities around the US against mandatory vaccination
Joe Biden has been urging US employers to issue ultimatums to their staff: get vaccinated, or lose your job.

The president says he will soon bring in a mandate that requires all healthcare workers to have had the jab, and has urged states to do the same with teachers.

In Concord, New Hampshire, it is striking to see some of those attending a large protest against vaccine mandates wearing hospital scrubs.

Leah Cushman is prepared to lose her nursing job rather than get vaccinated.

“My beliefs are religious. I believe that my creator endowed me with an immune system that protects me, and if I get sick, that’s an act of God. I would not take a medicine that affects the immune system,” said Ms Cushman. She denies there is any conflict between these beliefs and the responsibilities of her job.

Ms Cushman argues that the Covid vaccines remain “experimental”, despite the Pfizer vaccine having full Food and Drug Administration approval in the US – meaning the FDA considers that enough data has been gathered to indicate the drug is safe and effective. But she says she no longer takes any vaccines at all in any case.

Image caption,Leah Cushman says she no longer takes any vaccines
Managers who have already decided to impose vaccine mandates at their hospitals say it is primarily about making patients feel safe.

But Scott Colby, CEO of the Upper Connecticut Valley Hospital, acknowledges that he has lost several medical staff over the issue of the vaccine mandate, in a period made busier by the Delta variant and the backlog of non-Covid-related procedures.

The hospital manager says that on balance it is still the right decision to require vaccination, partly because serious coronavirus-related sickness among staff – more likely among the unvaccinated – is an avoidable drain on resources.

But Mr Colby also says he finds some of the opposition does not appear to have a purely medical or religious basis.

“It’s not just Covid. There are other vaccines that employees are required to have, like MMR or hepatitis. So to say this is not political would be disingenuous,” says Mr Colby.