‘To be ignored is very concerning’: Local nurse has religious exemption approved, still has to find a new job
SPOKANE, Wash. — For those in healthcare at the Spokane Veterans Home, getting an exemption is required if you don’t get a vaccine. However, one nurse who already had her religious exemption approved says she believes she’ll still have to find a new job.
“If you’re a nurse, and you do not get vaccinated, they want you gone,” the nurse said.
She’s been committed to taking care of patients throughout the Pandemic but says her days are numbered. She doesn’t want to be identified for privacy concerns.
“You are trying to give the best possible life to this person whom other people may have given up on,” she said.
Now, she feels given-up on by a state who says she isn’t fit to care for people anymore. She’s been a nurse for more than 11 years and works at the veterans home, taking care of patients through the pandemic.
“Now, we’re even being ignored now on a personal level, and this goes beyond the worksite,” she said.
She asked for a religious exemption because she says getting vaccinated is against her Christian convictions. She says she believes in God-given immune systems and disagrees with the research of aborted fetal cells in the vaccines.
It’s important to note, none of the COVID vaccines contain aborted fetal cells, and the research involves fetal cells from abortions decades ago.
However, she says its enough for her to be against the vaccine.
“That is something that is huge for a lot of people, and for that to be ignored is very concerning,” she said.
Her exemption was approved by the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, but she can’t work as a nurse any longer.
The veterans’ home told her “The only reasonable accommodation we can offer is the possibility of a reassignment” to a non-nursing position.
“If I pose such a threat, how come they’re still keeping me on till October 18th?” she said. A question she’s trying to understand as she worries about what could come.
The veterans home says 39 of their employees are still unvaccinated. The total staff is 108 people.
They say they’re holding vaccine clinics leading up to the mandate deadline.
In the ‘approval of exemption’ letter, the Department of Veterans Affairs cites the CDC saying, unvaccinated people are five times more likely to be infected with COVID than vaccinated people.
It goes on to say, in part, these facts show “a significant risk of substantial harm is posed by having someone present in the workplace who may be infected with COVID-19, with or without symptoms.”
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