A group of Polk County health care workers is fighting back against mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, both for their patients and fellow employees.
Lakeland native Lindsey Grych, 30, a nurse practitioner, said she grew concerned watching COVID vaccine mandates being put in place across the United States. Grych formed a Facebook group called, “Healthcare Freedom for Healthcare Workers Polk County.”
“I’m not against vaccination, I got my vaccinations but I don’t feel people should be forced,” she said. “I feel very deeply, deeply motivated that everybody should get to make health care choices based on their personal comfort level and medical history.”
This action incited a rallying cry from local health care professionals who feel such mandates go too far.
“It’s your God-given right, liberty, and bodily autonomy. It’s your right to choose what goes in your body and your health care choices,” Nikki Murphy, a nurse practitioner from Auburndale, said. “If you choose the vaccine, that’s awesome. If you don’t, we’ll support you.”
Murphy, 35, and others who support the movement are members of the Polk chapter of Moms Across America, a national nonprofit aimed at amplifying the voices of mothers to create healthy communities. The group a rally last week.
“There’s a risk with this vaccine, just like there’s a risk in contracting COVID,” Murphy said.
Grych said she feels it’s impossible to know 100% what the long-term effects of various COVID vaccines are because it hasn’t been studied long enough. She claims doctors are often reluctant or refuse to report patients experiencing serious side effects to the national Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“It’s a cumbersome process,” she said.
The VAERS form is about nine pages long and can take up to 30 minutes to completely fill out per patient, according to Grych. If that’s time to see another sick patient, she believes there’s a temptation that overwhelmed physicians will simply move on.
A Change.org petition has been started titled “Stop the Mandate on Healthcare Professionals” which calls on Florida’s major health care systems to stop putting COVID mandates in place. The petition highlights that many hospitals and clinics that are threatening to fire unvaccinated employees are already short on staff.
The petition has received over 1,370 signatures by 5 p.m. Friday.
The health care professionals group is planning a second rally scheduled for Sept. 18.