Rally protests health workers’ mandate to vaccinate

AMSTERDAM – About 40 people attended a rally outside the Mohawk Valley Medical Arts Building in St. Mary’s Healthcare on Sunday to protest the state’s mandate that all hospital staff and nursing home workers receive their first injection of ‘a COVID-19 vaccine by September. 27 or risk losing their job.

Some people at the “Stop the Mandates” rally were holding signs with slogans such as “Freedom vs. Fear”, “No Medical Tyranny” and “My Life, My Choice”.

Jessica Blake, of Amsterdam, and Carly Vannostrand, of Gloversville, said they organized the rally and circulated a petition for the signatures of those looking for Governor Kathy Hochul to end the requirement.

Vannostrand said she had worked as a certified nursing assistant at various healthcare facilities, including St. Mary’s, at various times over the past 14 years. She said she quit working as a CNA six months ago due to COVID-19 requirements.

“They make nurses completely ‘in gowns’, we wear face masks and shields and gowns, and we’ve all been exposed to them,” she said. “Now we are told we have to take the vaccine. How do you go from hero to zero in six months? “

The vaccination requirement for state healthcare workers was first ordered by former Governor Andrew Cuomo on August 18 and then implemented through emergency regulations filed with the Secretary of State New York City on August 26. The regulations include almost all healthcare-related locations. including: all hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic and treatment centers, dental clinics, dispensaries, midwifery birthing centers, rehabilitation clinics, home health agencies, adult care facilities and hospices for hospitalized patients.

The emergency regulations differ from Cuomo’s original tenure in that there is no religious exemption allowed. The state health ministry will have the power to request vaccination records for employees of any of the health facilities they regulate and there is a risk of fines if the entities do not comply. The vaccine mandate is also not subject to collective bargaining.

Here are the deadlines set by the state:

• September 27 – All hospital staff and nursing home workers should receive their first dose. This includes state-employed health workers, who do not have the opportunity to undergo weekly testing, an option available to other state employees.
• October 7 – All staff in other health facilities should receive their first dose.

Cody Anderson, chairman of the New York Libertarian Party, spoke at the rally. He said healthcare workers shouldn’t be forced to choose between getting vaccinated or losing their jobs.

“What we are defending is bodily autonomy, we are not advocating for or against a vaccine,” he said. “Many of you are somehow feeling the masks and the vaccines, we are not heard to send this message. We intend to support healthcare workers who are on a state mandate for a vaccine that they may or may not want for a number of reasons. “

Christopher Kinowski, from Perth, said he believed vaccines were “poison” and did not offer 100% protection against breakthrough infections. He said he believed the people who claimed that “COVID-19 and other viruses to come is a master plan for the Deep State.” Kinowski made it clear that the rally was political in nature.

“I think we have some very exciting news to celebrate today, first that genocide maniac Andrew Cuomo is no longer governor,” he said, receiving cheers from almost everyone in the gathering. .

“We got worse now, she’s a female, she’ll do more harm!” A woman shouted from the crowd.

“Yes,” Kinowski said. “The second most exciting news of the day is this: Vaccines don’t work. Game over!”

Kinowski said his wife worked as an administrator at a hospital, but he didn’t want to say where. He said she would refuse to be vaccinated and would rather quit than be forced to do so. He said many healthcare workers would turn down the mandate, creating shortages of skilled healthcare workers.

Several people at the rally repeated the phrase “Game Over” regarding data showing that some vaccinated people were still infected with COVID-19, although their symptoms tend to be much less severe.

None of those at the rally who gave speeches or interviews for this story said they worked for St. Mary’s Healthcare, but some said they worked for other hospitals like Chuck Zbytniewski, who wore nurse’s gowns and hat from the United States Marine Corps. Zbytniewski said he had worked as a licensed practical nurse for 27 years, but would allow himself to be fired before getting vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We have seen some of the short term effects. We have seen myocarditis in patients, ”he said. “They keep making that ‘Well, we’ve vaccinated millions of people’ argument, that’s fine, but what guarantee do you have that I won’t get myocarditis? Or that I won’t die and leave my children. You know, this is my life. I only get one. No one will make the decision for me, and no one should make the decision for you.

The extremely rare side effect Zbytniewsk mentioned was the subject of a review of clinical records published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on August 4. Examination of data from 40 hospitals in Washington County, Oregon, Montana and Los Angeles, California showed that among 2 million people receiving at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination, 20 people developed ‘vaccine-related myocarditis’, which is inflammation of the middle layer of the heart wall.

According to the JAMA review: 15 of 20 vaccine-related myocarditis cases were men with a median age of 36, four of them developed symptoms after the first injection, 16 developed symptoms after the second injection, 19 of them were admitted to hospital, but all were released after about two days.

“There were no readmissions or deaths,” the JAMA article read. “Two patients received a second vaccination after the onset of myocarditis; neither of them had any worsening of symptoms. At the last available follow-up, 13 patients had resolution of symptoms and seven were improving.

Zbytniewsk said he was skeptical about the accuracy of reporting side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, and he believes they are likely higher and worse than reported. He also believes the death toll from COVID-19 is exaggerated. He said he volunteered to work among COVID-19 patients in St. Luke’s, but he doesn’t think he ever contracted the virus. He said his biggest concern with COVID-19 vaccines is that no one knows the long-term effects of taking them.

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