Vaccine mandates get second look in courts

There has been a lot of hand-wringing and worry in the healthcare industry as impending deadlines on COVID-19 vaccine mandates approached. However, healthcare workers who believe the choice on being vaccinated should be their choice, not the government’s, are cheering the court rulings this week that put preliminary injunctions on that mandate.
    A lot of that hand-wringing was occurring in Chase County for sure. Administrators at our hospital and nursing homes were facing severe losses in staff because of those who would have to leave their positions due to their personal choice on the vaccine.
    The mandate would have forced them to leave their jobs if they hadn’t started the two-shot vaccine series by Dec. 5, unless they could work 100% from home.
    Those employee losses would have come to our healthcare facilities that already have several positions unfilled—positions directly related to caring for the patients and residents.
    Whether you have received the vaccine or not, it’s a personal choice. For those who have chosen to be vaccinated—great. That’s your choice. It’s the same for those who have not been vaxed, yet we hear a lot more condemnation for that choice than the other.
    It’s interesting that the pro-abortion lobby talks “personal choice” about the woman’s body all the time. Where are all of them on this issue? Why shouldn’t we have a “personal choice” on getting the vaccine or not? Those who support the vaccine mandate might answer that question the same as this statement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, as reported by Forbes: “Staff in any healthcare setting who remain unvaccinated pose both direct and indirect threats to patient safety and population health.”
    Wow—I’d say undergoing an abortion certainly poses a threat to the developing baby’s health and safety.
    What’s been unsettling is the lack of any clearly understood position  from our leaders on natural immunity and how it fits into this “to vax or not to vax” scenario. Study after study has shown that those who’ve had COVID-19 and recovered have a better immunity against COVID to the tune of 10 times better (maybe more) than those who have been vaccinated.  
    And why no answer on that? Could it be a strong pharmaceutical lobby that wants to sell as much of its vaccine as possible?
    While the mandates have been stopped and healthcare employees can continue to work, the injunctions are only temporary while the lawsuits make their way through the courts.
    In a related area, the recent action by judges in lower courts puts the spotlight again on judicial appointments. The judge who halted the mandate Monday in the 10 states that included Nebraska was appointed by President Trump.