Protesters oppose vaccine mandates for medical field

COEUR d’ALENE — About 200 people rallied against forced vaccines for medical professionals on Thursday outside Kootenai Health.

People waving signs and flags stood on all four corners at U.S. 95 and Ironwood Drive for about two hours. Many passersby honked and waved in support.

Jennifer Pinheiro, a nurse from Spokane, was among them.

She said she believes a mandated COVID-19 vaccine for workers in the healthcare field would be a violation of their rights. She said they worked through the pandemic in the past year and didn’t need a vaccine. Now, many hospitals nationwide are requiring staff to get vaccinated or lose their jobs.

Pinheiro hopes that doesn’t happen in this region. She wonders how healthcare workers went from being praised for bravely standing on the frontline against the virus to having their jobs threatened if they don't get vaccinated.

“I want to support all nurses. We’re all in the same situation,” Pinheiro said as she stood on the shoulder of U.S. 95, holding an American flag in one hand and a sign in the other that read, “Last years heros, this years unemployed.”

“We survived the pandemic without vaccines, using our personal protective equipment. We did it right,” Pinheiro said. “We’re very well trained on how to do it right. We didn’t get sick. We helped everybody else who was sick.”

Joy Gibson, an in-home care nurse, held a sign that read, “No forced COVID vaccine.”

She said she was taking a stand for those who don’t want the vaccine.

“I believe in medical freedom,” she said.

Gibson hoped others would rally to the cause.

“It’s not fair,” she said. "And something needs to happen or it’s going to get even worse.”

Nearly 1,500 hospitals — roughly a quarter of all hospitals in the U.S. — now require staffers to get a COVID vaccine, said Colin Milligan, a spokesperson for the American Hospital Association.

“More follow suit every day as hospital leaders aim to head off staff shortages like those experienced last year and to keep employees from becoming vectors of the disease,” CNN reported.

Kootenai Health provided a statement that said it “strongly encourages employees to be vaccinated, but vaccination is not mandatory.”

Still, Faye Batchelder said the rally was meant to send a message to those in charge at the hospital not to force the vaccine on staff.

“We want to say don’t do it,” she said. “We want our medical personnel to have a right to choose.”

Serena Cogburn, a CNA, took part in the rally. She said she has doubts about the vaccine and doesn’t want to be forced to take it to keep her job.

“I don’t want to lose my job so I’m standing for my rights. If I don’t stand for them, I’m not going to have any,” she said.

Cogburn said before she was recently hired at Kootenai Health, she asked about the possibility of a vaccine mandate and was told the hospital was trying to avoid it.

“I hope they keep that or they’re going to lose a lot of good people,” she said.

Jay Writz stood at a corner with a sign that read, “If you don’t get the vaccine, you’re fired. Is that constitutional? No.”

He said he opposes a vaccine mandate for anyone because vaccines haven’t been fully approved by the FDA and he worries about both short- and long-term side effects.

Kim West, carrying an American flag, joined the rally. The Plummer woman led a freedom rally in April 2020 in Coeur d’Alene. She shook her head as she pointed out that more than a year later, protests for constitutional rights continue and the battle is far from over.

“Communism is here, nipping at our heels. Stand for America or lose your freedom,” she said.

West worries Americans will be losing more rights in the not-too-distant future.

“It’s just the beginning of what’s coming,” she said.

Debby Jordan, another nurse at Kootenai Health, joined the rally.

“I don’t want to be forced to take a vaccine," she said. "I think it should be my body, my choice.”

Jordan believes she contracted the coronavirus last year and has natural antibodies.

“I don’t feel like the vaccine is going to help me in any way,” she said.

According to the COVID Collaborative, "Even if you have already recovered from COVID-19, it is possible, but rare, that you could be infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 again.”

Jordan said she's retiring after 45 years as a nurse, but not because of the possibility of a vaccine mandate.

“It’s just time,” she said.

But she won't walk away from this fight.

“I’ll stand in support so other people I work with who don’t want to get a vaccine won’t have to," she said. "It will be a choice."