When Politics and Healthcare Meet No One Wins

 

When politics and healthcare meet, no one wins. Certainly not me, anyway.

As a practicing nurse in California, I am mandated by law to comply with a two-dose mRNA vaccine with booster. Regardless of masking and a downward trend, the California Department of Public Health has instituted guidelines that pressure all medical staff (and medically adjacent) to get a booster if they’ve already been vaccinated. Religious exemptions will only be tolerated if they were previously known, documented, and thoroughly supported. No “new” exemptions will be allowed.

This means that a convert to fundamental Christianity who discovers that the mRNA vaccines were created with descendent lines of cells taken from aborted fetal tissue will not be allowed an exemption for their newfound religiosity.

For those of us who love freedom, this alone is concerning.

But for me, personally, what is more concerning is the following CDPH guidance about medical exemptions:

To determine qualifying medical reasons, the physician, nurse practitioner, or other licensed medical professional practicing under the license of a physician should refer to Interim Clinical Considerations for Use of COVID-19 Vaccines from the CDC, specifically, clinical considerations, as well as contraindications and precautions. The identified contraindications include:

  • Documented history of severe allergic reaction to one or more components of all the COVID-19 vaccines available in the U.S.
  • Documented history of severe or immediate-type hypersensitivity allergic reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine, along with a reason why you cannot be vaccinated with one of the other available formulations.

It is not enough that my doctor indicates that I had a severe reaction to my Covid vaccine; I have to convince my doctor to justify why I cannot take another vaccine that is available. Additionally, guidance states that only severe anaphylaxis is a reason to exempt employees. When referred to the CDC website, it makes it very clear what it considers to be a severe enough reaction:

For the purposes of this guidance, regarding severity of allergic reactions:

Severe allergic reactions include:

  • Possible anaphylaxis, a progressive life-threatening reaction that typically includes urticaria but also with other symptoms such as wheezing, difficulty breathing, or low blood pressure (see Appendix D)
  • Any angioedema affecting the airway (i.e., tongue, uvula, or larynx)
  • Diffuse rash which also involves mucosal surfaces (e.g., Stevens-Johnson Syndrome)

Non-severe allergic reactions may include:

  • Urticaria (hives) beyond the injection site
  • Angioedema (visible swelling) involving lips, facial skin, or skin in other locations. NOTE: Any angioedema affecting the airway (i.e., tongue, uvula, or larynx) is considered a severe allergic reaction (see above).

Additionally, people who have had myocarditis following their Covid vaccination with a mRNA vaccine are still somehow recommended to get a booster once they have recovered.

Ultimately, the CDC decides to cover itself by indicating that if these guidelines aren’t specific enough (vaccinate everyone, all the time!), you can have one of their special scientists look at your patient’s case to determine if they should or should not get a vaccine or booster. I’m sure, given the above guidance, that they will be completely circumspect and immune to any sort of government pressure to impose vaccinations for all but the most immediate life-threatening of reactions.

At the end of the day, for me, it has emerged like most bureaucratic decrees; though everyone agrees that I should not get another vaccine because of the severity of the reaction, no one wants to be the one to sign the letter. Filing this letter with my institution leaves it open to CDPH, which leaves it open to the CDC. Both of these entities could have a negative impact on my physicians (yes, plural) who do not want to be the one to formally make the call; one could lose a practice, one could lose a research grant, one could lose a prestigious place on a medical board. If it came out that they helped someone avoid guidelines, it could be perceived as anti-vax behaviors and a lack of confidence in science. It could be perceived as defiance of common-sense medical guidelines put in place by the CDC. It could also impact their licensing from the state board (rumor has it).

It could be very, very negative for them.

Additionally, and perhaps more pedestrian, no one wants to sit down and take the time to write a letter that justifies to CDPH exactly how it is that I should be exempt from both types of vaccines (because guidance is that if you’re allergic to one type, you get the other). Time is, after all, money. Particularly in healthcare, the time taken to write a letter of this magnitude requires research, finesse, and an iron-clad line of argument. This is time that would or could be better spent in rooms with patients, teaching medical students, writing research papers, or cutting down the mountain of digital charting that depresses every practitioner in every state.

At the end of the day, these policies are not good for anyone individually and probably not even good for society as a whole, as Covid peters out into a milder, friendlier version of SARS.

But most importantly to me, this policy endangers not only my livelihood, but realistically, also my life as getting another vaccine could potentially be deadly. It is one thing to insist that we are vaccinated for patient care. It is another to disregard thrombocytopenia, coagulopathies, allergies, and even myocarditis in a push for political correctness.

At the end of the day, my job is not worth my death, even if it means leaving patient care.

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  1. HankRhody Freelance Philosopher Contributor
    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher
    @HankRhody

    They want to save your life so very badly they’re willing to kill you to do it.

    • #1
  2. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    TheRightNurse: Both of these entities could have negative impact for my physicians (yes, plural) who do not want to be the one to formally make the call; one could lose a practice, one could lose a research grant, one could lose a prestigious place on a medical board. 

    And neither of them are concerned with losing the life of a patient? 

    • #2
  3. Gary McVey Contributor
    Gary McVey
    @GaryMcVey

    A powerhouse of a post, TRN. 

    • #3
  4. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    TheRightNurse:

    But most importantly to me, this policy endangers not only my livelihood, but realistically, also my life as getting another vaccine could potentially be deadly.  It is one thing to insist that we are vaccinated for patient care.  It is another to disregard thrombocytopenia, coagulopathies, allergies, and even myocarditis in a push for political correctness.

    At the end of the day, my job is not worth my death, even if it means leaving patient care.

    Yes.

    Health care is in danger of collapse and no one seems to care that these policies are pushing it over the edge. I am sorry for your personal trials, TRN. The system is sick and you are suffering. 

    Soon, we all will be. 

    • #4
  5. Rodin Member
    Rodin
    @Rodin

    TheRightNurse:  If it came out that they helped someone avoid guidelines, it could be perceived as anti-vax behaviors and a lack of confidence in science.  It could be perceived as defiance of common-sense medical guidelines put in place by the CDC.  It could also impact their licensing from the state board (rumor has it).

    So much for the Hippocratic Oath. (sigh)

    • #5
  6. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    TheRightNurse: Additionally, people who have had myocarditis following their Covid vaccination with a mRNA vaccine are still somehow recommended to get a booster once they have recovered.

    They want 100% vaccination in all Western first-world countries with an experimental vaccine which forces the body to produce a toxin, multiple times and with no exceptions, to combat an illness that is no longer any more deadly than the flu.

    These graphs weren’t a study but a presumably accidental information dump of Alberta Public Health.  I don’t know how many people were vaccinated so I have no raw numbers, but you can see from the case curves that the hospitalizations and deaths start shortly after inoculation, and drop down after 14 days.

    All these morbidity and mortality figures are hidden as being “unvaccinated” as opposed to recently vaccinated.

    This is a graph of daily hospitalizations per day following the administration of the covid shot.

     

    Actual cases per day post covid inoculation.

     

    This is a graph of date of covid deaths following inoculation with covid vaccine.

     

    Curve of percentage of deaths on days post inoculation.

    • #6
  7. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    They are engaged in lies

    Going along with lies is how you are like, well some nation. 

    • #7
  8. Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw Member
    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw
    @MattBalzer

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    They want to save your life so very badly they’re willing to kill you to do it.

    Vax ’em all and let God sort them out.

    • #8
  9. TheRightNurse Member
    TheRightNurse
    @TheRightNurse

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    TheRightNurse: Both of these entities could have negative impact for my physicians (yes, plural) who do not want to be the one to formally make the call; one could lose a practice, one could lose a research grant, one could lose a prestigious place on a medical board.

    And neither of them are concerned with losing the life of a patient?

    Well, it’s probably a lower chance than them being canceled by the powers that be.

    • #9
  10. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    Vince Guerra (View Comment):

    TheRightNurse: Both of these entities could have negative impact for my physicians (yes, plural) who do not want to be the one to formally make the call; one could lose a practice, one could lose a research grant, one could lose a prestigious place on a medical board.

    And neither of them are concerned with losing the life of a patient?

    Patients die all the time.  Any medical professional has to get used to it.

    Having the state direct its full force upon you as an enemy is not something most medical professionals are prepared for. 

    This is the reason I can’t stand the crackdown on potential COVID-19 treatments.  I’m not really an ivermectin fan, but I have no patience for politicized science and tyranny through medicine.

    • #10
  11. The Girlie Show Member
    The Girlie Show
    @CatIII

    I’ll raise you one further and say when politics and literally anything else meet no one wins.

    • #11
  12. Judge Mental Member
    Judge Mental
    @JudgeMental

    The Girlie Show (View Comment):

    I’ll raise you one further and say when politics and literally anything else meet no one wins.

    Ding!  Ding!  Ding!  

    • #12
  13. WillowSpring Member
    WillowSpring
    @WillowSpring

    Is there any consideration for those who have already had Covid?

    This reminds me of a quote I read the other day (probably on Ricochet – the source of all good quotes):

    “Q: What do you get when you mix politics with medicine?  A: Politics”

     

    • #13
  14. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    Fearing death from vaccination seems quite unwarranted.  The available evidence indicates that the vaccines are very safe, and the benefit of vaccination far outweighs any risk.

    I haven’t investigated it in detail, but the myocarditis issue seems to principally affect teenage boys, and even for them, the cost-benefit analysis favors vaccination.  Maybe Kozak or MiMac can chime in with a medical opinion on this.

    I’m also not sure what you mean about a “downward trend” in California.  Worldometer (here) shows a big spike in cases in California, as in the rest of the country, coupled with a small increase in deaths.  I don’t see a downward trend, but perhaps you’re looking at different data.

    • #14
  15. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    Whether a patient gets any treatment or not should be up to her and her physician and no one else.  The right of a patient to refuse any treatment should be near absolute.  Those are the principles that guide medical ethics. They are based on the recognition of problems that have come up over the years that have shocked the conscience of our society — episodes like the Tuskegee incident, the forced sterilizations of the 1930s, and the abuse of lobotomies done to treat mental illnesses up to the 1960s.

    I sense that we may look back on this era of forced vaccinations like we look back on those events and wonder how we could have gone so wrong.  I realize that a number of vaccinations are already mandated for certain groups — school children and health care workers, for example — but we should still maintain the sovereignty of people over their own persons.  Unfortunately, in the legal sense that horse has long left the barn.

    • #15
  16. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    small point but the mRNA vaxs were “not created with descendent lines of cells taken from aborted fetal tissue” – they used such cells in the safety testing of the vaxxes-but none are needed in the development nor manufacture of the mRNA vaxxes. That is one of the advantages of mRNA vaccine technology.

    As far as the safety testing- one would prefer no such cell lines be used if at all possible. But imagine the anti-vaxxers hue & cry IF they had skipped an industry standard safety test- OMG!!! THEY SKIPPED SAFETY TESTING!!!

    the safety tests are done on a huge range of products we all use regularly-it will not be easy to switch to another safety test b/c it is, in effect, the standard of comparison & has decades of data confirming its efficacy as a safety test. Any change now on COVID products will simply be used to claim they are trying to hide problems.

    addendum- I will not go into the controversy of wether the HEK 293 cell line is from an abortion- there is actually some uncertainty-I have posted on it before.

    • #16
  17. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Nurse – what an incredible post! God bless you! So many have wanted to opt out and being forced. Take the military – supposedly little to no religious exemptions is what I read. It is very scary to have a reaction to any shot or medicine. I had a terrible reaction to the flu shot back in 2008 and haven’t had one since. I haven’t had the flu specifically either. I have 3 severe food allergies. They cannot make any treatment one size fits all! It is way more harmful to force these on society (worldwide) than to have our healthcare workers, military, first responders, gov. workers, truck drivers, law enforcement and so many other critical sectors up and running fully staffed, than forcing them out!  I don’t blame you at all for reconsidering your livelihood at this stage.  We live in a bizarre time and it’s every man and woman for themselves! Please keep us posted and I wish you well.

    • #17
  18. Gary Robbins Member
    Gary Robbins
    @GaryRobbins

    What a post!  Thank you for sharing from your heart.  California feels like a totally different country; I am guessing that you may want to relocate to a more free state.

    Ditto to the other comments.  I don’t have a lot to add, but wanted to lend my moral and verbal support.  It is people like you who make Ricochet live in today’s world.  Thank you again.

    • #18
  19. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Fearing death from vaccination seems quite unwarranted.  The available evidence indicates that the vaccines are very safe, and the benefit of vaccination far outweighs any risk.

    I haven’t investigated it in detail, but the myocarditis issue seems to principally affect teenage boys, and even for them, the cost-benefit analysis favors vaccination

    Go back and read the post again. Maybe take notes. You’ve completely missed the lessons of her post. 

    • #19
  20. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker

    The Girlie Show (View Comment):

    I’ll raise you one further and say when politics and literally anything else meet no one wins.

    Except the politicians themselves.

    • #20
  21. TheRightNurse Member
    TheRightNurse
    @TheRightNurse

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    Is there any consideration for those who have already had Covid?

    This reminds me of a quote I read the other day (probably on Ricochet – the source of all good quotes):

    “Q: What do you get when you mix politics with medicine? A: Politics”

     

    No.  Unless you have an anaphylactic reaction, you are mandated to get the shot.

    • #21
  22. Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw Member
    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw
    @MattBalzer

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):
    Patients die all the time.  Any medical professional has to get used to it.

    True, but there’s a difference between not being able to save someone and ordering a treatment that will have adverse effects potentially including death.

    • #22
  23. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw (View Comment):

    OmegaPaladin (View Comment):
    Patients die all the time. Any medical professional has to get used to it.

    True, but there’s a difference between not being able to save someone and ordering a treatment that will have adverse effects potentially including death.

    Especially when there is a recent, verifiable history of harm. 

    • #23
  24. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw (View Comment):

    HankRhody Freelance Philosopher (View Comment):

    They want to save your life so very badly they’re willing to kill you to do it.

    Vax ’em all and let God sort them out.

    Or Darwin😬😬😬

    • #24
  25. TheRightNurse Member
    TheRightNurse
    @TheRightNurse

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Fearing death from vaccination seems quite unwarranted. The available evidence indicates that the vaccines are very safe, and the benefit of vaccination far outweighs any risk.

    I haven’t investigated it in detail, but the myocarditis issue seems to principally affect teenage boys, and even for them, the cost-benefit analysis favors vaccination. Maybe Kozak or MiMac can chime in with a medical opinion on this.

    I’m also not sure what you mean about a “downward trend” in California. Worldometer (here) shows a big spike in cases in California, as in the rest of the country, coupled with a small increase in deaths. I don’t see a downward trend, but perhaps you’re looking at different data.

    You’re replying to me as if 1) I didn’t already work at the bedside in a hospital, 2) I don’t read or understand statistics, and 3) am some sort of hysterical antivaxxer.

    All you have to do to hear about the downward trend in severity is look *literally anywhere*.  Ask Dr. Google.  Omicron has been much less life threatening across the board, so much so that even the UK has halted all mitigation measures.

    And no,  you have not investigated the myocarditis issue, nor have you investigated many of the adverse events associated with all of the vaccines.  You also do not have first hand experience of them as a patient or a practitioner.

    Since you are so keen on it,  perhaps you should look into some actual research on actual numbers from a source that isn’t “worldometer” who claims validity by listing people who use their stats and lists “government sources” as their sources (and/or media, when they deem it reliable)?  If it’s not good enough for my doctoral thesis, it’s not good enough as a source.

    Please check your tone.  You seem to think I’m willy-nilly just not interested in a vaccine, rather than have irrefutable medical evidence of a pre-existing and potentially life-threatening reaction to my last one.  Not everyone can get the vaccine and persecuting people for indicating that is *not* a crime, nor should it be.

     

    • #25
  26. aardo vozz Member
    aardo vozz
    @aardovozz

    TRN, a friend of mine( who is a doctor) has been saying for decades that medicine and politics don’t mix( he started saying this with Clinton in office in the 90s), but your post really brings that out. 

    Mixing medicine and politics also puts me in mind of Mark Steyn’s objection to letting rogue nations have membership in the U. N.: “ When you mix a pint of vanilla ice cream with a pint of dog feces, it isn’t hard to tell which flavor will predominate.”

    • #26
  27. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    TheRightNurse (View Comment):

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    Is there any consideration for those who have already had Covid?

    This reminds me of a quote I read the other day (probably on Ricochet – the source of all good quotes):

    “Q: What do you get when you mix politics with medicine? A: Politics”

     

    No. Unless you have an anaphylactic reaction, you are mandated to get the shot.

    By the time you have a reaction like that, it could be too late for you to say you can’t tolerate the shot……..

    • #27
  28. MiMac Thatcher
    MiMac
    @MiMac

    TheRightNurse (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Fearing death from vaccination seems quite unwarranted. The available evidence indicates that the vaccines are very safe, and the benefit of vaccination far outweighs any risk.

    I haven’t investigated it in detail, but the myocarditis issue seems to principally affect teenage boys, and even for them, the cost-benefit analysis favors vaccination. Maybe Kozak or MiMac can chime in with a medical opinion on this.

    I’m also not sure what you mean about a “downward trend” in California. Worldometer (here) shows a big spike in cases in California, as in the rest of the country, coupled with a small increase in deaths. I don’t see a downward trend, but perhaps you’re looking at different data.

    You’re replying to me as if 1) I didn’t already work at the bedside in a hospital, 2) I don’t read or understand statistics, and 3) am some sort of hysterical antivaxxer.

    All you have to do to hear about the downward trend in severity is look *literally anywhere*. Ask Dr. Google. Omicron has been much less life threatening across the board, so much so that even the UK has halted all mitigation measures.

    And no, you have not investigated the myocarditis issue, nor have you investigated many of the adverse events associated with all of the vaccines. You also do not have first hand experience of them as a patient or a practitioner.

    Since you are so keen on it, perhaps you should look into some actual research on actual numbers from a source that isn’t “worldometer” who claims validity by listing people who use their stats and lists “government sources” as their sources (and/or media, when they deem it reliable)? If it’s not good enough for my doctoral thesis, it’s not good enough as a source.

    Please check your tone. You seem to think I’m willy-nilly just not interested in a vaccine, rather than have irrefutable medical evidence of a pre-existing and potentially life-threatening reaction to my last one. Not everyone can get the vaccine and persecuting people for indicating that is *not* a crime, nor should it be.

    a)The downward trend is in lethality/severity – but their is a large upward trend in incidence- therefore this “mild” virus lead to about 3,000 deaths yesterday. The problem is a product of BOTH lethality & contagiousness. The majority of hospitalizations & the vast majority of deaths are in the unvaxxed-of that there is no doubt.

    b) as a hospital nurse it is unlikely you have significant 1st hand experience treating post vax myocarditis or serious vax adverse events. Since the rate of such events is low the chance that an individual RN will have significant 1st hand experience is vanishingly low. The rate of patients seeking ANY medical attention was 1%-and of those very few went to a hospital. By significant a mean a number of patients-you might  know the old medical joke-if you have successfully treated 2 patients it is described as “case after case was successfully treated”. Three cases is a series…

    c) if you had a significant adverse reaction to the vaccine then your own situation is somewhat unusual-I hope you can resolve the issue with your employer. But your situation is poor basis for recommendations for the public at large.

    as for the myocarditis issue- there are a range of reports for the incidence in teen males (being the most affected)- but what is not in doubt is that there have been no deaths from vaccine associated myocarditis, while there has been deaths from COVID. It is likely that the rate of mild myocarditis from the virus AND the vaccine is underreported-altho not the clinically significant cases -and almost all of these are from COVID infection.

    Here is the pediatric data as of Dec 13, 2021:

    The V-SAFE program-(41,232 kids followed post vaccine): no deaths at ALL from the vaccine (1%  sought any medical care). No myocarditis

    For VAERS-7 million doses (you can’t get incidence data from VAERS)

    a) 2 post vaccine deaths reported  (AGAIN A VAERS REPORT DOES NOT EQUAL VACCINE CAUSED DEPITE WHAT THE ANTI-VAXXERS CLAIM). In one case the child had multiple medical problems and other infections-was discharged after treatment for respiratory failure from the non COVID infections-died 2 days later. The other child also had many medical problem, died 10 days post vaccine and had an “unrevealing” autopsy.

    b) VAERS had 8 cases of myocarditis reports-all mild

    c) Vaccine Safety Datalink program (333,000 doses)- no myocarditis reported

    https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/acip/meetings/downloads/slides-2021-12-16/05-COVID-Su-508.pdf

    what the lack of myocarditis reports indicates is that it is often being missed b/c it is not causing problems

    • #28
  29. Saint Augustine Member
    Saint Augustine
    @SaintAugustine

    TheRightNurse (View Comment):

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    Fearing death from vaccination seems quite unwarranted. The available evidence indicates that the vaccines are very safe, and the benefit of vaccination far outweighs any risk.

    I haven’t investigated it in detail, but the myocarditis issue seems to principally affect teenage boys, and even for them, the cost-benefit analysis favors vaccination. Maybe Kozak or MiMac can chime in with a medical opinion on this.

    I’m also not sure what you mean about a “downward trend” in California. Worldometer (here) shows a big spike in cases in California, as in the rest of the country, coupled with a small increase in deaths. I don’t see a downward trend, but perhaps you’re looking at different data.

    You’re replying to me as if 1) I didn’t already work at the bedside in a hospital, 2) I don’t read or understand statistics, and 3) am some sort of hysterical antivaxxer.

    All you have to do to hear about the downward trend in severity is look *literally anywhere*. Ask Dr. Google. Omicron has been much less life threatening across the board, so much so that even the UK has halted all mitigation measures.

    And no, you have not investigated the myocarditis issue, nor have you investigated many of the adverse events associated with all of the vaccines. You also do not have first hand experience of them as a patient or a practitioner.

    The risk/benefit analysis is very good for many people to take the vaccines. Not so good for young males and Pfizer. Even the non-fallacious arguments in favor a Pfizer shot are outdated now that we have the less-severe Omicron.

    I reckon the risk/benefit analysis is usually pretty good for young females taking Pfizer, 18-and-up males taking JJ, and anyone over 40 (over 30? over 50?  over 60?).

    But, even then, not so much for recoverees and people who had bad reactions to a first shot.

    • #29
  30. Vince Guerra Inactive
    Vince Guerra
    @VinceGuerra

    MiMac (View Comment):

    But imagine the anti-vaxxers hue & cry IF they had skipped an industry standard safety test- OMG!!! THEY SKIPPED SAFETY TESTING!!!

    the safety tests are done on a huge range of products we all use regularly-it will not be easy to switch to another safety test b/c it is, in effect, the standard of comparison & has decades of data confirming its efficacy as a safety test. Any change now on COVID products will simply be used to claim they are trying to hide problems.

    They are. Just ask the family of Maddie De Garay.

     

     

    • #30
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