By David Goerg

REXBURG—Around 100 local citizens assembled in downtown Rexburg on Saturday morning, lining the sides of the intersection at Second East and Main Street. Their purpose was to voice resistance against the vaccination mandates that have recently targeted healthcare workers across the nation, and specifically in eastern Idaho.

The protest was called “East Idahoans against Vaccine Mandate,” and toured four different Idaho cities on Nov. 27, including Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, and Pocatello.

A local healthcare worker named Megan organized the event.

“I just figured there’s a lot of people who are going to be fired [because of the mandate] and need support and it kind of snowballed,” Megan said. “I just started the group a week ago. We got about 100 people here today and we’ll probably get more in Idaho Falls, Blackfoot, and Pocatello.”

According to Megan, healthcare professionals must receive their first doses of the COVID-19 vaccination by Dec. 5, or risk losing their jobs.

President Joe Biden announced Nov. 4 that healthcare workers at facilities that contract with Medicare and Medicaid would be required to be vaccinated.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking action to require COVID-19 vaccinations for workers in most health care settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including but not limited to hospitals, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings, and home health agencies. This action builds on the vaccination requirement for nursing facilities recently announced by CMS, and will apply to nursing home staff as well as staff in hospitals and other CMS-regulated settings, including clinical staff, individuals providing services under arrangements, volunteers, and staff who are not involved in direct patient, resident, or client care. These requirements will apply to approximately 50,000 providers and cover a majority of health care workers across the country. Some facilities and states have begun to adopt hospital staff or health care sector vaccination mandates. This action will create a consistent standard across the country, while giving patients assurance of the vaccination status of those delivering care.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/

Many local protestors displayed handcrafted signs, bearing short messages such as: “Say No To Mandatory Vaccines,” and “Ultimatums do not equal Freedom.” Many were local healthcare workers. For them, the issues that animated this protest were personal.

Jamie, who works as a local ER nurse, emphasized her opposition to mandates, rather than to vaccines.

“People need to know we’re not anti-vaccine,” Jamie said. “We’re freedom of choice. As nurses, we took an oath to protect our patients’ rights to patient autonomy—but now they’re expecting us to get the shot that turns us into the patient. We should be afforded the same rights that we’ve sworn to protect for our patients, but there is nobody standing up for us. I just want everybody to know that you might think this doesn’t affect you right now, but when your nurses get canned, your care is going to suffer.”

“I think it’s all about autonomy,” said Zach, a local healthcare worker. “The science of antibodies and natural immunity should play into the equation [of vaccination]. To discredit people that have natural immunity is not following science at all.”

Zach worked alongside other industry professionals through the brunt of the pandemic in 2020.

“The biggest problem is the mandate—I’m not anti vaccine,” he continued. “I think the vaccine is great. I’ve actually recommended it for a number of patients, that they do get it. But I think, like everything in medicine, you have to weigh the risks and benefits. But in this situation we’re not practicing medicine, we’re following a mandate and reporting people, making decisions for them.”

Notably, not everyone at the protest worked in healthcare.

Sam, a local police officer, said that he showed up for the sake of many of his friends and family who work in the healthcare industry.

“I have several family members in healthcare and their jobs are on the line. Their livelihoods, their careers are on the line, along with their freedom,” said Sam. “It’s not right, what’s being done to people.”

He continued: “There’s too many people that don’t want to give [the mandates] any thought and just go on with their lives. But what they don’t realize is that at some point, they’re going to be the ones that are that are facing the same decision. Right? If they shrug their shoulders and turn their backs on us, who’s going to stand for them when it’s their turn?”

Tiffany, an ER nurse who works in eastern Idaho, said that she is willing to lose her job over this vaccination issue.

“I’m going to lose my job, because I’m not taking the shot,” TIffany said. “We have run towards [the community] to protect them and care for them for the last two years, and now our community is running from us. They’re going to feel the hurt and I feel bad for them, because they need us when they’re their most vulnerable, and a lot of us won’t be there to help them anymore.”

It is apparent that for Tiffany and others, the issue at hand is not about vaccinations. Rather, their main concern centers around freedom of choice and the bodily autonomy of American citizens.

When asked about what people in the community could do to help healthcare workers in their struggle against vaccination mandates, many of the protestors mentioned calling the local hospital as a viable method of support.

“People [in the community] could talk to hospital administration and let them know that they support the [freedom of choice] of healthcare workers, and don’t support firing them, especially during this time of year.”

“[The community] should call the hospital, they should blow up the phone.” Jamie said. “And if they can get an appointment to meet with administrators in person, they should do that too. But especially call.”

Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Nov. 16 that Idaho would join 11 other states in challenging the mandate.

“President Biden has no legal authority to force hospitals and other healthcare facilities to require their employees to get vaccinated. His illegal attempt would intensify a problem confronting our country—we already have a short supply of healthcare workers available to handle the pandemic,” Little said.