I have heard these stories anecdotally, and seen smaller versions of them in the Lexington Herald-Leader, which isn’t exactly a major newspaper. But now even The New York Times is reporting on the story:

A Hospital Finds an Unlikely Group Opposing Vaccination: Its Workers

When a Staten Island hospital implemented a vaccine or testing mandate, some of its staff staged angry protests.

By Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura | August 22, 2021

Their movement started discreetly, just a handful of people communicating on encrypted apps like WhatsApp and Signal. But in just days it had ballooned tenfold. And within two weeks, it had turned into a full-blown public protest, with people waving picket signs to denounce efforts to push them to receive coronavirus vaccines.

But these were not just any vaccine resisters. They were nurses, medical technicians, infection control officers and other staff who work at a hospital on Staten Island, which has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection of any borough in New York City.

There’s much more at the Times original,^[1]To get around the Times’ paywall, you can also read it here. but I want to point out the most important part: the resisters aren’t just cafeteria workers and custodial staff, the lower-paid people in the hospital and those with little or no medical training. They included “nurses, medical technicians, (and) infection control officers,” people who have degrees, a lot of training, and medical knowledge.

I included the photo to the right, from the Times, something I normally do not do, due to copyright concerns, but this one falls under Fair Use standards. Note that the protesters aren’t the stereotype rednecks the left would have you believe. And while it’s very difficult to read in the photo, the name badge of the gentleman in blue scrubs, holding the “I stand for medical freedom!!” sign, appears to have RN, or registered nurse, in the red band on the bottom of his hospital name badge.

Scientists and medical professionals point out that those who refuse vaccines are potentially endangering the lives of patients. “Vaccinations are critical to protect our patients, our staff and protect the general community,” said Dr. Mark Jarrett, chief medical officer at Northwell Health, which is the state’s largest health care provider and runs Staten Island University Hospital. “It’s a tough issue, but it’s our professional obligation to always maintain that whatever we do, it’s for the safety of our patients.”

He said he is hopeful that imminent federal approval of the Pfizer vaccine will persuade some of the unvaccinated to get shots.

As the Delta variant, the highly transmissible version of the coronavirus that now makes up almost all new cases in the United States, drives a surge throughout the country, public health officials are struggling to boost vaccination rates among frontline medical workers. Among the nation’s 50 largest hospitals, one in three workers who had direct contact with patients had not received a single dose of a vaccine as of late May, according to an analysis of data collected by the U.S. Department of Health.

The Staten Island protests started last Monday when Northwell Health began requiring unvaccinated staff to get weekly coronavirus tests by nasal swab or risk losing their jobs. On the same day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced that all health care workers across the state would be required to have at least one dose of the vaccine by Sept. 27, with limited exceptions for those with religious or medical exemptions.

So, a third of (hospital?) workers who have direct patient contact hadn’t received a dose of the vaccine by late May? Remember: the vaccines were first made available to health care workers, so it’s not as though their opportunities were as limited as those of the general population.^[2]For me, even though I was technically eligible at the beginning of March, the vaccine wasn’t actually available to me until April Fool’s Day, due to shortages. But, as we noted here, the Times itself reported, just three days ago, that ‘Nursing Is in Crisis’: Staff Shortages Put Patients at Risk: “When hospitals are understaffed, people die,” one expert warned as the U.S. health systems reach a breaking point in the face of the Delta variant. While I assume that that one-third ratio has declined some, it must still be fairly high, or the left wouldn’t be trying to force people to get vaccinated.

It has to be remembered: in a time where the supply of workers is low vis a vis the demand for them, workers have the power. When it comes to registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and medical technicians, even if they are not formally unionized, they have the primary strength of a union, that being the restriction on the supply of available workers. With hospitals and nursing homes experiencing a serious shortage of such personnel, every one that a hospital discharges for not getting the vaccine creates a difficult-to-fill position. The Times reported, on a small health care system:

Nearly 30 percent of Singing River’s 500 beds are empty. With 169 unfilled nursing positions, administrators must keep the beds empty.

I’m waiting on the credentialed media to start telling us about the shortages of nurses and other personnel from the decisions to mandate the vaccine.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, on the other hand, is all about pushing vaccine mandates:

Facing new vaccine mandates, more Philly-area residents are agreeing to COVID-19 shots

COVID-19 vaccine mandates and requirements are here, and more are likely coming. Early evidence indicates they’re effective in reaching those reluctant to get a shot.

by Jason Laughlin and Marie McCullough | Updated: August 23, 2021

A growing number of people trickling into Philadelphia-area vaccine clinics this month very much don’t want to be there.

What cut through reluctance, anxiety, or the cacophony of misinformation on social media, they said, and got them to roll up their sleeves, were the restrictions and mandates that are becoming increasingly common in the city and across the nation.

“Basically I got boxed in a corner, I guess,” said Kittrell Norman, 33, who has side jobs that now require vaccination. “Until this started messing with my money no one could tell me any different.”

The Pfizer vaccine’s winning full approval from the Food and Drug Administration on Monday is likely to make vaccine requirements and mandates even more common.

This is a new phase of vaccination: Get tough.

Restaurants, cruise lines, colleges, and a growing number of employers — hospitals, municipal governments, Amtrak, Citigroup — are telling workers and customers to prove they’ve been vaccinated or go elsewhere.

There’s more at the original, but if you read it, you might notice what I did: the mandates are working on people like Mr Norman, because he doesn’t have the kind of positions in which he can take the job loss, and, to be blunt about it, he can be more easily replaced than a registered nurse.

There are good reasons to get vaccinated, but I have to wonder: just how much are the left stiffening resistance by their mantra that You Must Comply?