Nurse's Video on Losing Job for Refusing Vaccine Goes Viral

UPDATED November 2, 2021 // This story has been updated with a statement from Kaiser Permanente.

A Twitter post of an unmasked nurse being escorted from a Kaiser Permanente hospital for what she called "sincerely held religious beliefs" has gone viral. It had been viewed more than 6 million times at press time.

The 5-minute video of the nurse leaving the hospital, both of which are unidentified in the clip, was a peaceful protest by the frontline worker against COVID-19 vaccine mandates, which many employers globally are enforcing.

https://twitter.com/GillianMcKeith/status/1454444208027324416

In her video, which was originally posted October 30 on Rumble, the nurse explained, "I am being escorted out of Kaiser Permanente hospital for my religious beliefs because I don't want to get the jab. And I asked all day for someone to explain to me why my sincerely held religious beliefs are not good enough for Kaiser. And no one was able to do that for me," she continued.

"So now they're escorting me out because I wanted an answer. And I'm not leaving without an answer. I have some nurses here who are standing with me in solidarity, and I appreciate that."

The nurse, seen walking through the halls of the hospital surrounded by masked personnel, including a security guard, further stated that she had been put on unpaid administrative leave.

"I just want all of you to count the costs," she said. "I want you to watch this and think, what really matters to me? Because I am willing to lose my safety and security, my house, everything, for my freedom. And I want you to think about that."

Andrew Bindman, MD, Kaiser Permanente's executive vice president and chief medical officer, told Medscape Medical News, "We respect our employees' sincerely held religious beliefs and acknowledge there are a small number of medical conditions which may prevent an individual from getting vaccinated. We are committed to thoroughly and thoughtfully reviewing all requests for religious exemption from our vaccination policy."

However, Bindman noted that some exemption requests submitted by employees were "similar or nearly identical requests containing language taken word-for-word from free and paid templated online forms.... We will continue to work with employees who are seeking exemptions for legitimate medical and religious reasons. We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated."

In the case of this particular employee, he said, the employee didn't go through the proper administrative channels as advised. "If our employee in this case had connected with HR, she could have asked questions and been provided information about next steps for addressing the vaccination requirement. We will work with her to address her concerns, and will continue to work with other employees who are seeking exemptions for legitimate medical and religious reasons."

The nurse in the video, while waiting for an elevator, posed questions to a few random people about their views on the subject. "Let me ask you, do you believe in religious freedom?" Offscreen, those responding indicated affirmatively. "Well, Kaiser doesn't. Because they are not accepting my religious exemption based on my sincerely held religious beliefs. So that's a problem."

Also on the video she stated that she has worked since the beginning of the pandemic, "when we didn't know what was going on," and that she had shown up the day of her expulsion "happy to work." She also touted Kaiser for paying well. She even quoted the company's signs in a parking garage that encourages employees to climb the stairs for exercise as she went with the security guard who was escorting her up seven flights to the top of the parking garage.

"It's a sad day. I don't know what kind of a pandemic it is if they're firing nurses who are willing to work. I don't know," she concluded. "It doesn't make sense to me. So you have got to ask yourself that question: what kind of world are we living in when we have a pandemic where my kids have to wear masks at school and they have to get a vaccine for something that they are not at risk of dying from at all."

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