Calif. nurses protest vaccine mandate

August 17, 2021 Amber Coakley US 0

A COVID-19 vaccination card is displayed at the Banning Recreation Center Tuesday, April 13, 2021, in Wilmington, Calif. The site switched from its original plan to use the Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 to the Pfizer vaccine. California's pause on using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as federal agencies examine a possible and rare side effect is unlikely to affect vaccination efforts in the nation's most populous state as it moves to start inoculating people 16 and older this week. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

A COVID-19 vaccination card is displayed at the Banning Recreation Center Tuesday, April 13, 2021, in Wilmington, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:01 AM PT – Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Strict vaccine requirements in California has led health care workers to push-back against the mandate. During a protest Monday, nurses from the Golden State came together outside the state capitol in Sacramento to show their opposition of the mandate.

The demonstration came after Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom said earlier this month that state and health care workers would need to prove full vaccination or be tested at least once per week.

An attendee of the protest, Sacramento nurse Carly Rinaldi, said it’s upsetting to hear fellow nurses be given an ultimatum over their job. Meanwhile, nurse Laura Estrella from Modesto also weighed in by noting she wants the same rights as her patients.

“The principle of forcing a vaccine on someone goes against everything we’ve ever been taught as nurses,” stated Estrella. “When patients come in for procedures, we give them the choice whether or not to submit to the procedure we’re recommending and so they have the right to refuse. That’s in their patient consent form and we just want that same right.”

Additionally, she stressed that nurses should be have the right to decide while asserting it’s somebody’s personal choice whether to receive the vaccine or not.

“You know, if we feel the vaccine’s not right us, we should be able to make that decision for our own body,” Estrella continued. “We never gave up medical autonomy to anyone else. We have autonomy over our own bodies to give ourselves what we feel is proper medical treatment for our condition. And if we don’t want the vaccine, we shouldn’t have to take it.”

As the California state government shows little sign of easing up on any such mandates, however, several organizers of Monday’s protest said they plan to rally until the feel they are being heard.