The group Tennessee Neighbors for Liberty protested Saturday at CHI Memorial Hospital in Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia, in support of nurses and staff who do not want to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Organizers said their top concern is ensuring employees at the hospital retain the right to make medical decisions for themselves without punishment, something they feel was threatened by CHI Memorial’s decision to require its employees – including all physicians, advanced practice providers, volunteers and others caring for patients within CHI Memorial facilities – to get the vaccine by Nov. 1 to continue working at its hospital and branches. Protesters including Sarah Harden said requiring anyone to get any medical procedure to keep a job is wrong.
“These are good people who have worked hard for everyone during this whole pandemic and even before,” she said. “It’s not right to tell them they have to get the jab now or lose everything they’ve worked for. That’s not what freedom is, and that’s all we want is medical freedom. We want people to stop trying to take rights away. We have rights.”
Jake Land said he wanted to protest because he has friends who have lost jobs in other fields because they refused to take the vaccine.