The news coverage of the past year has bombarded the public with a steady stream of inconsistent and confusing statistics regarding a number of issues surrounding the pandemic. Recent headlines showcase statistics on vaccine mandates and resistance to them. A hospital stopped delivering babies after 30 workers quit in protest over New York mandate. Almost 1,900 Washington State employees were fired or resigned over a state vaccine mandate. United Airlines fired 232 employees for not complying with a mandate made in anticipation of President Biden’s executive order.
It is easy to read these articles and view the statistics as simply numbers without considering that each represents an individual whose life has been irreparably impacted. For every individual who quits or is terminated for refusing to comply, there are just as many reasons (medical, religious, or ethical) why they have made that decision.
Looking Outside of the Numbers
This has recently hit home within the Libertarian Party of Georgia as Carley Fletcher, Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Dekalb County, was recently terminated after a successful career with Emory University Healthcare. Fletcher has a history of seizures that were controlled with medications. The past year has been a challenging one for Fletcher whose seizures returned, along with walking pneumonia, due to mold exposure from the property that she was renting. Her physician, who diagnosed and treated the mold poisoning, advised her against getting a vaccination.
When Emory began instituting vaccine requirements to preemptively comply with upcoming mandates, Fletcher requested a medical exemption. Her request was denied citing that her medical issues were not on the list of approved reasons published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“If I let my employer bully me into taking a drug for a job that is 100% remote and is against my doctor’s recommendations for my health, what won’t I submit to?” Fletcher remarks. “If this is not a clear-cut line to take a stand, then where would I ever take a stand? When I am standing up against my former employer’s mandate, I am not standing up to a ‘private company’ but the CDC, FDA, and [the President’s Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony] Fauci.”
Widespread Consequences
Like many who have fallen victim to these mandates, Fletcher has a long and distinguished record of accomplishment for Emory Healthcare including work on several important projects that replaced manual processes with electronic alternatives. In addition to the devastating impact on the lives of the individuals who are terminated, there is also an impact to similar important projects and the overall economy. Unnecessary mandates reduce the numbers of employees in already short-staffed industries and lower the quality of goods and services provided as highly qualified individuals are removed. These impacts are critical, but not easily measured and, therefore, effectively render meaningless the statistics that are so ubiquitous in today’s headlines.
Another consequence which cannot easily be examined statistically is the degradation to liberty and bodily autonomy. Fletcher says, “I believe that it is a flat-out lie when my former director told me that, ‘the choice is yours and yours alone.’ Taking something away from someone until he or she gives you the ‘correct’ answer is not consent but coercion.”
Moving Forward
The historical record has shown that governments moving in the direction of absolute power will continue to push for additional control without bold and determined resistance like that of Carley Fletcher. There are calls not only for resistance to the mandates by the unvaccinated, but also resistance by the vaccinated by refusing to disclose their status. This may involve inconvenience and sacrifice.
As Fletcher states, “I consider this a type of blackmail when my former director told me that, ‘the possibilities of finding a job while unvaccinated may be challenging.’ So, the way forward, in my opinion, is finding or creating a parallel economy for the unvaccinated to unite.”
#mystatusismybusiness
