The Bologna Blog

Vaccinations

With full disclosure in mind, I will tell you that I am fully vaccinated, but this was a personal choice. It was a choice that I was allowed to make based on my circumstances and my concerns. It was my choice alone and I refuse to wag my finger at those that chose differently. The pandemic is an unprecedented event in our history, and the media has caused the politics of all parts of this last year and a half to pit one person against the other. They managed to make even the mask, a simple piece of cloth, the topic of heated debates.

But the exciting news is that we have survived and we have endured. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We have accomplished this by working together as medical professionals. We were a team and we worked diligently to meet the needs of our patients. And there was tremendous loss along the way, with each of us knowing at least one person who lost the fight or whose life was altered forever. . So it makes no sense to me to begin pitting our staff against one another with mandatory vaccinations. These are the same people that were hailed as heroes’ a few months ago. And to now threaten their livelihood is atrocious.

There are questions still remaining about the injections, as to the long term effects. They are new and they are experimental. People of child-bearing age, the main entity of our workforce, are worried about fertility. There are guidelines even for certain meds that we nurses dispense to our patients that cause the same concern and special precautions must be used. There are people with medical conditions, such as auto-immune or genetic deficiencies that carry concerns. There are people battling cancer while still attempting to work for the much needed insurance anxious about the shot. The thought of adding more foreign medications to their system fills them with dread. Yet now we are demanding that they inject themselves for some greater good that the media is touting. These are still the same people that showed up at the hour of our desperation.

I was given a choice, but I believe my co-workers deserve the same consideration. Mandating for the sake of panic and hysteria is a grave mistake. We all witnessed what it has done to our society. Making rules just because the media makes it trendy throws away the very compassion we hospital workers have always embraced.

It scares me as to the number of people that we will loose over this issue. A voice of reason is needed now more than ever. I have worked side by side with some of these people and can attest to the commitment and empathy they possess. I lived through the short-staffing of the pandemic and this will in no way compare. Colleagues that I have trusted with my life and those of our patients will be lost. I beg you to reconsider this mandate.

In a few years, when we have the full knowledge of the injectables and fallout from this era in history, people will become more comfortable. The flu vaccine is the prime example and we were not rushed into the decision. Science and time played a role in helping to make the choice. Fifty plus years of history stands behind the flu vaccine versus two years of hyped-up propaganda and fear tactics. Chronicles of the COVID vaccine’s efficacy and long term side effects are short-lived. People deserve a bit more history to base the personal decision upon and the high price of mandating our staff is too exorbitant.

They are still masking and still showing up to do the job that is asked of them, but the very organization we have aided seems to be attacking. Our heroes’ of 2020 are still heroes and are asking for better treatment from the hospitals that we serve.

Sincerely,
.

Long term employee and Concerned Staff Member