In a year in which medical workers have been praised using the popular phrase “health care heroes,” many of these workers find themselves being threatened with suspension or termination for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Following suspension of 178 employees, a federal court judge in Texas has dismissed a lawsuit in which 117 employees of Houston Methodist Hospital sued over the mandating of COVID-19 vaccination as a condition for employment.1
Judge Lynn N. Hughes of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas stated that the plaintiffs had no case. She also stated plaintiffs misconstrued the law and misrepresented facts, “including that the requirement amounted to forced medical experimentation because COVID-19 vaccines have received emergency Food and Drug Administration authorization but not full approval” reported NBC News.1
Current FDA guidelines state that upon administration of a product manufactured by a company that has been granted an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to distribute the product in the U.S., which would include all COVID-19 vaccines currently being distributed in the United States, recipients must be informed “that they have the option to accept or refuse the EUA product and of any consequences of refusing administration of the product” and “of the significant known and potential benefits and risks associated with the emergency use of the product, and of the extent to which such benefits and risks are unknown.” 2
Drugs and vaccines distributed under an EUA require less evidence demonstrating safety than products fully approved and licensed by the FDA.3
Legality of mandating an EUA COVID-19 Vaccines Remains Unclear
The legality surrounding the mandating of an unapproved FDA biological product is wading into novel legal territories. A recent article by Carolyn Hendler in The Vaccine Reaction noted:
Historically, an experimental vaccine is in development for approximately 10-15 years before the FDA licenses it for use by the general public, allowing the public to gain confidence in its safety and effectiveness.4
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), which provides information on health policy issues, the above FDA statements can be interpreted differently and highlight both legal and ethical questions surrounding mandating a vaccine that is still being distributed under an EUA. KFF states:
It is unclear whether COVID-19 vaccines can be mandated while operating under an EUA, and courts have not yet ruled on this issue.3
Houston Methodist Employees Refusing Vaccine Placed on Unpaid Leave with Eventual Termination
Grounds for the lawsuit, which was filed Montgomery County in May, argued that the vaccines were experimental and, because they were not yet officially licensed by the FDA, Houston Methodist could not force employees to get the vaccine “on penalty of termination or other sanctions.”5 Plaintiff attorney Jared Woodfill said he intends to file with the Texas state court and that he would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, if necessary.1 5
Houston Methodist employees who refused the vaccine by June 7 were placed on unpaid suspension, which will eventually lead to termination. Employees were given the opportunity to file for religious or medical exemptions, or deferrals in the case of pregnancy.6However, a number of employees testified at a May 6, 2021 Texas Senate hearing that their COVID-19 vaccine exemptions were rejected by hospital administration officials.7
According to NBC News, 285 Houston Methodist employees received medical or religious exemptions and 332 others were granted deferrals. Nearly 25,000 Houston Methodist staff members have been vaccinated.5
Majority of Washington, DC and Maryland Hospitals Plan to Mandate Vaccine for Employees
The Washington Post reports that the “the vast majority” of hospitals in Washington, DC and Maryland will also begin requiring a COVID-19 vaccine for all employees.7 Employees who refuse to get vaccinated must participate in weekly coronavirus testing.
Hospital leaders in DC, Maryland, and Houston state that the decision was made to protect both patients and staff. In an e-mail to employees shared with MedPage Today, Houston Methodist Hospital CEO Marc Boom wrote:
Science has proven that the COVID-19 vaccines are very safe and very effective… By choosing to be vaccinated, you are leaders—showing our colleagues in healthcare what must be done. 8
In a later statement, Boon is quoted as saying that COVID-19 vaccines have gone through rigorous testing and are not experimental. 6
There are opposing views among the hospital’s staff and MedPage Today reported that Houston Methodist Hospital Administrator Bob Nevens wrote in a petition against the required COVID-19 vaccine:
My right to protect myself from unknown side effects of these vaccines have been placed below the optics of ‘Leading Medicine.’ 8
More Nursing Homes Mandating COVID-19 Vaccine for Employees
An increasing number of nursing homes are also requiring their staff to receive COVID-19 vaccine, citing low vaccination rates for nursing home employees.9
The Washington Post reported in January that an estimated 80 percent of nursing home employees chose not to be vaccinated during the initial COVID-19 vaccine roll outs.10
Vaccine Hesitancy Amongst Largely Black and Latino Nursing Home Staff
Harvard University health policy professor David Grabowski, PhD said hesitancy to get the new COVID vaccine shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with long-term healthcare facilities. Low wages and poor labor conditions associated with long-term healthcare facilities, as well as “earlier missteps fighting the coronavirus pandemic,” 10 have caused a general mistrust. Dr. Grabowski said:
This is a forgotten workforce that hasn’t been treated well for years. We’ve been slow with [personal protective equipment], we’ve been slow with hazard pay, and all of a sudden now, they want to go fast with vaccinations… There’s good reason they’re so distrustful.10
Black and Latino workers make up the majority of long-term facility staff. Reverend Derrick DeWitt, a Maryland nursing home director, cited Internet misinformation, ongoing lack of medical care access for minorities, and general mistrust of the medical establishment, which was fueled by historical abuse of minorities by the medical profession, such as the Tuskegee experiment. Rev. DeWitt said:
These folks don’t even have access to a doctor when they’re sick. Then suddenly you say, ‘Show up in a parking lot and get this mysterious vaccine.’ It’s hard for them to trust you. People of color have become very pessimistic about being guinea pigs.10
Employees Have EEOC Protection from Discrimination
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which protects employees from discrimination, has released guidelines on workplace vaccine requirements. The guidelines state that, while employers can legally require the vaccine to enter a physical workplace, “employers must comply with the reasonable accommodations of the ADA… the Civil Rights Act, and other EEO considerations.”11 Alternative arrangements must be made for employees who fall into these categories, which include but are not limited to not being vaccinated for religious or medical reasons. 12
Attorney Accuses Houston Methodist of Placing Profits Over People
Woodfill has stated that Houston Methodist Hospital CEO Marc Boom is placing profits over people in an attempt to be branded as the first hospital to mandate employee vaccinations. Woodfill stated:
It’s clearly about the bottom line but not about the people who put their lives on the line. This is how they’re repaid, with a pink slip.5
Woodfill also said that when it comes to the legality of vaccine mandates in the workplace, that is a question that needs to be answered for his clients, as well as hospitals and employees everywhere. 5
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Click here to view References:1 Romero D. Judge dismisses lawsuit by Houston hospital employees over COVID-19 vaccinations. NBC News June 13, 2021.
2 U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Guidance Documents: Emergency Use Authorization of Medical Products and Related Authorities. January 2017.
3 Musumeci M. Key questions about COVID-19 vaccine mandates. Kaiser Family Foundation Apr. 7, 2021.
4 Hendler, C. Mandating a novel vaccine is a novel legal issue. The Vaccine Reaction June 7, 2021.
5 Madani D. Houston hospital suspends 178 employees who refused COVID-19 vaccination. NBC News June 9, 2021.
6 Lenthang M. 117 employees sue Houston Methodist hospital for requiring COVID-19 vaccine. Yahoo! News May 29, 2021.
7 Fisher BL. Texas Bill Still Pending After Historic Hearing to Prohibit Vaccine Mandates and COVID Vaccine Passports. NVIC Newsletter May 21, 2021
8 Chason, R. D.C., Md. Hospitals will require employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The Washington Post June 9, 2021.
9 Basen R. Houston Methodist: Get vaccinated, or get fired. MedPage Today Apr. 28, 2021.
10 Paulin, E. More nursing homes are requiring staff Covid-19 vaccinations. AARP May 27, 2021.
11 Chason R., Tan R, Portnoy J, Cox E. Most nursing home workers don’t want the vaccine. Here’s what facilities are doing about it. The Washington Post Jan. 27, 2021.
12 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Laws Prohibiting Job Discrimination Questions And Answers.
13 Ebbs S. What to know if your employer requires vaccinations: federal legal protections. ABC News May 28, 2021.
20 Responses
Their mandates will backfire. This will contribute more to the nursing shortage placing patients lives at increase risk for poor and inadequate care.
I cannot see how it’s legal to force your employees to submit to a medical experiment. It’s not an FDA authorized treatment. This should be taken right to the Supreme Court. If they back the hospital, then the judges (like Justice Lynn N. Hughes) are corrupt to the core. Besides, the gene therapy does NOT prevent transmission, which would be the whole point of injecting employees, would it not? They ignored the facts about these shots in favor of profits and power.
Go to the website FOR-US and fill out a medical religious exemption for the vaccine. It has to be notarized. I’m hoping this will work at the VA in California.
See David Martin’s Butterfly of the Week for June 14, 2021 on You Tube for a more complete rundown of this case and the results. It is eye popping. This is the truth you will never experience on the TV news or in the mainstream media.
You are absolutely correct about David Martin. It was an interesting and educational video…….
Do not understand why a judge would not consider it unethical to mandate a EAU status shot that has unknown efficacy and humans are being used as guinea pigs? Aren’t there violations of the Nuremberg Code going on here? Who would want to be in violation of this code when, if found guilty, the penalty is death? Are those who are mandating this EAU shot going to be held personally responsible for those who end up dead or chronically ill as a result of their mandate? It would not seem fair otherwise. Oh, I forgot, the shot does not cause deaths or injury but every diagnosis is considered Covid positive????
Personally, I would not do business with or be employed by any doctor or hospital that has not fully taken into account all sides of the virus and the EAU shot; meaning, if they were making decisions using a real scientific approach, there would be more hesitancy until more information is available to make said decisions when it comes to life or death as they claim to be in the business of saving lives. This decision seems very political and reeks of $$. Follow the money.
Need to look at Nurenburg Code…this coercion is actually PUNISHABLE BY DEATH!
The judge is corrupt. The level of corruption in the justice system is now legend. And the only way to clean it up is bringing in the Military to get the Deep State out. It should never be mandated to receive an experimental jab and we all know, those of us who research, that this jab is causing deaths, sometimes within minutes of administration and the long term prognosis is not good. The spoke protein they have used is exactly what is killing people and making them injured for life. This is insane. And it’s all for money. Gates, Fauci, WHO – all corrupt.
I agree; this judge or these judges are obviously corrupt. There have been over 5,000 deaths in the U.S. in people who had the coronavirus shot, and many thousands of adverse reactions. To make these shots mandatory is clearly a violation of the Nuremberg Code as well as the U.S. Constitution. All of us Americans must stand up for our freedom or lose it.
I once quit a job in a clinic because they mandated TB Test, which, although technically, not a vaccine, they put PPD of Tuberculosis under ur skin. NO WAY, NO HOW! I was outta there!
Stay God-Centered and You will know The Way!
FREEDOM of VACCINATION CHOICE No Matter What!
They should appeal!
I would vouch for the religious exemption anyway and continue to lobby the employer for openness and honesty about informed consent to include alternatives to the vaccine, like
therapeutics that have been suppressed, disclose the cycle threshold of PCR tests that have been used to create a fake pandemic and cycled down to create the illusion of vaccine success.
Disclose that the FDA documents say that the COVID-19 tests don’t confirm the presence or absence of the virus and that there are no virus isolates. In other words, do a candid data dump on the science – disclosing it to the public. https://www.fda.gov/media/134922/download
If some hospital staff are reluctant to take these experimental jabs, shouldn’t people be asking why not? Being on the front-line mean they could have access to information that the general population doesn’t, so their opinions need to be taken seriously.
Instead of which, much of the brain-washed public is lambasting these workers for theoretically putting their patients at risk.. Not to mention this judge; did she really weigh up all the facts? Or just go along with the MSM and the corrupt organisations that are pushing these disgusting products: I’m not going to dignify them with the word ‘vaccine’ because they are nothing of the kind.
If this judgement is appealed, I hope these workers win. Maybe then, people will start to open their eyes and question what is actually going on that, is if the MSM actually bother to report it..
Read the NVIC newsletter published last week or the week before on how the few agencies (OSHA, EEOC and more) supposed to protect workers have such “loose” language that anything can be interpreted in many ways.
This, among other issues with labor in the USA , should prompt many to look at the right of workers (very few, and even those not likely to get you to “win” a case against an employer) and start to demand a huge reform of labor laws, which should of course include straightforward language about any mandate which could affect someone’s body (like a vaccine).
However, just to be a bit impartial, the hospital did provide means to refuse through exemptions. I used to work in healthcare in Massachusetts (one of the worse state for pushing vaccines to employees) where Hepatitis B and Flu vaccines have been pushed for decades, I was always able to sign a form declining those vaccines.
Overall though I do applaude those workers for their determination and fight. We need a lot more people in industries where a shortage of workers would be catastrophic, to stand up and refuse to be bullied.
I have gone to Methodist Hospitals and seen their doctors for decades. I have walked away from Methodist Hospital System because I do not trust them any longer. I know several people changing from Methodist. Learning the CEO’s wife is a vaccine advocate and vaccine researcher was the deal breaker. Farewell Methodist Hospital Houston and Sugar Land, TX.
Healthcare will lose people with ethics and integrity. The only people still working will be the ones who looked the other way when doctors failed to treat covid patients, but were happy to watch while they failed to treat patients and sent them to their doom on ventilators. Because…money.
We hanged Nazis for forcing “medical procedures” on their prisoners without informed consent. We are now forcing our citizens to do the same thing. Mengele and Barbie would be proud.
Methodist is grotesquely over-gouged overpriced, let their people double-bill you, etc.;
but the problem is YOU WILL NOT MEET A JUDGE WHOSE COMPETENCE EXCEEDS their ARROGANCE.
US Dist. & 5th Circuit the least liberal area. For example, a huge study by Reuters shows 5th are most likely to let police kill us. (Move away from the Gulf coast.)
BUT MAINLY, METHODIST CAN AFFORD TO BRIBE.
EVERYONE make copies of the article, and mail it to the judge, daily. Copy to mainstream paid-off “news.” Mail to TX AG and any offices you like. Texans can Public Information Requests, about Methodist, etc. Someone somewhere may have the power to care.
That GD POS SOB—why we still need Guantanamo, which OafbaMarx did NOT close.
Marc Boom,
Prove the “proof” that they are safe. You have no proof. Fauci’s lies are coming to light. There is no data proving the safety of these injections. There are hundreds of credible M.D.s who have come forward with documentation that these injections are lethal.
Dr. David Martin has indisputable evidence that this hyped pandemic was planned, and is a crime against humanity.
You have blood on your hands, as well as all other health care organizations who are mandating something they have not fully researched. And if you DO know, God have mercy on you.
Other have a policy of vaccine or weekly testing.
Did they have weekly testing last December? During the biggest peek?
Ask for the spit test used at U of IL.
Also if a employee tests + then they must test all employees that were in contact regardless of vaccine status.
It’s safer to get 12 tests than 1 ?, for both.
As I have always claimed – the Americn (and that includes the entire Western Hemisphee is only about 10% educated far enough) The vaccine has killed over 5,000. How many has the Covid 19 killed?. Every counyry in the world is losing it’s citizens. Why not object to forcing your kids to have polio, diphtherria, small pox, measles etc vacinnations. Do you any idea at all why the Bubonic lague died out? It probably died out because enough people lived after having it so they were immune to it.They didn’t even have aspirins in that century. I applaud Methodist and all others who follow suit. I want to know that the medical caregivers have been vaccinated who tend to me. I have just had my 91st birthday and I have been innoculated for EVERYTHING.. I have used Methodist Hospital and Doctors for over 60 years. They get the higest achievers from the most noted medical schools. By reputation they are the best in Texas and very hight standards in the rest of this country. God Bless all who work there. Ms. Ruth Staley