Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, researchers have managed to develop a vaccine that minimizes the symptoms of the virus. However, as the vaccine is new and it is impossible to know the long term side effects of the vaccine, many people have postponed or even refused to get the vaccine as they are afraid of the possible outcomes of the vaccine as it is still technically an experimental vaccine. Despite this concern among the public, government and public ran businesses have begun implicating a vaccine mandate on their workers in order to get back up and running without the fear of having to shut down as the new CDC guidelines state that as long as someone is vaccinated they don’t have to quarantine if they have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus. This has caused many employees much frustration as they feel they must choose between jeopardizing their health or losing their job.

Mayo Clinic was one of the many businesses that made the vaccine mandatory, giving employees until January 3, 2022 to get the vaccine. With 7oo of its employees refusing to get the vaccine, Mayo Clinic was forced to let go of all 700 employees last Wednesday on January 5. Yet, even though 700 employees were fired from the clinic, the clinic will not suffer any as “nearly 99 percent of employees across all Mayo Clinic locations complied with Mayo’s required Covid-19 vaccination program by the Jan. 3 deadline,” stated Mayo Clinic.

Despite the 700 employees who were let go, many of the employees who applied for medical or religious exemption did receive it. However, Mayo Clinic did claim that the 700 employees that did not file for exemptions and were let go would be deeply missed. 

“While Mayo Clinic is saddened to lose valuable employees, we need to take all steps necessary to keep our patients, workforce, visitors and communities safe,” stated the clinic.

Mayo Clinic felt that by making the vaccine mandatory they were protecting its employees, however, not all of the employees felt this way. In fact, many of the employees were afraid that the vaccine might hurt them as no one knows what kind of long term side effects the vaccine could have on the body. Therefore, many of the employees who were afraid to lose their job went to lawmakers for the legitimacy of this mandate. This then caused Peggy Bennett who is part of the Minnesota House of Representatives to write a letter to the clinic concerning this matter.

“Your amazing employees stepped up under unimaginable pandemic conditions over the last year and a half, exposing themselves and their families to a then mostly unknown virus and working long, grueling hours to take care of sick patients. Many of your employees were sickened by the virus at that time. They did all this willingly to serve Mayo Clinic patients and the people of Minnesota. They did so for all these months without the protection of any vaccine,” wrote Bennett in her letter to Mayo Clinic.

Bennett was not the only person to disagree with the clinic vaccination mandate. “People deserve to make this decision based on the benefits and risks for themselves and not coerced or forced into doing so by threat of losing one’s job,” stated lawmakers.

In response to the letter, Mayo Clinic announced that “based on science and data, it’s clear that vaccination keeps people out of the hospital and saves lives. Therefore, the clinic “urges all who are not vaccinated to get vaccinated as soon as possible. And if you are eligible for a booster, Mayo Clinic urges you to get a booster as soon as possible to help protect your health and the health of everyone around you.”

Even with all the studies and tests being conducted with the vaccine, many employees are still afraid to get it as they know that despite the tests no one knows what kind of problems the vaccine will cause in the future. Therefore, they feel that they should not be forced into choosing their job over their health especially when the vaccine does not keep people from getting the virus nor does it keep people from spreading it. In other words, the 700 employees that were let go from Mayo Clinic feel that they should not have to take a vaccine that not only has unknown side effects, but also does not work in preventing people from getting Covid-19 or spreading it.