Many Americans don’t want to be vaccinated. The President tried offering bribes. Some Americans weren’t buying. So now he wants to order it. Since he is not powerful enough to make such an order stick, he is going to enlist businesses to do it for him.
Joe Biden has required Federal employees to get the vaccine, or face bothersome rules like extra testing, masking, etc. He offered Federal funds to school districts who ignored the executive orders of their governors and required vaccines and masks. (Even though he can’t offer money for anything unless passed by Congress, but does the Constitution really matter to anyone at the DC level at this point?)
Now his latest is denying Medicare and Medicaid funding to healthcare facilities who don’t require employees to be vaccinated. There is a shortage of nurses, along with other healthcare workers, in this country to begin with. States that are requiring vaccination are already reporting that they are losing healthcare workers. Hospitals are so desperate for staff that they are offering sign on bonuses of up to $15,000 for Registered Nurses.
The hospitals are short staffed. The healthcare field is huge, and so Nurses, like most people who work in healthcare, tend to specialize. The nurses and other support people needed for COVID patients aren’t the same types needed for other health problems. So those personnel are in short supply. The hospital where I work has plenty of beds, rooms, and medical equipment. What they don’t have is enough staff. Hospital staff normally work three 12 hour shifts per week. Right now, we are being paid a bonus of $200 to $1,000 a day (depending on your qualifications) for every extra shift you work, on top of your overtime pay. There are ICU nurses that are being paid $2,500 a day to come to work.
I don’t see this playing out like Biden thinks it will. His vaccine mandate will only cause that shortage to become worse.
I got the vaccine because I felt it was the right thing for me to do at the time. Now that people are getting so pushy, I am reconsidering that position. I am not getting a booster. I am going to resist this, and help others do so as well. I just don’t like being told what to do.
