A Texas hospital is being sued by 117 employees who claim it is turning them into COVID-19 vaccine “guinea pigs” and breaking the law by requiring they get the shot, according to Saturday report.
The plaintiffs filed suit against Houston Methodist Hospital Friday, the latest group of workers to challenge mandatory inoculations at essential workplaces, The Washington Post reported.
The lawsuit alleges that compulsory vaccines violate the Nuremberg Code, which was created as a reaction to Nazi medical experiments against prisoners in concentration camps, the newspaper reported.
“Methodist Hospital is forcing its employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment,” the complaint states, according to the paper.
The mandate “requires the employee to subject themselves to medical experimentation as a prerequisite to feeding their families,” plaintiffs reportedly allege.
The lawsuit also reportedly calls COVID-19 vaccines an “experimental COVID-19 mRNA gene modification injection,” which is inaccurate.
Experts blasted allegations that the vaccines are experimental, saying they’ve gone through rigorous testing, have been demonstrated to be overwhelmingly safe and have no capacity to alter DNA.
“This claim is absurd indeed,” said Akiko Iwasaki, an immunologist at Yale University, according to the newspaper.
“After the emergency use authorization of these vaccines, there have since been hundreds of millions of people being vaccinated with the mRNA vaccines with excellent safety record,” Iwasaki said.
Lead plaintiff Jennifer Bridges said even though she has taken “every vaccine known to man,” she fears that the COVID-19 shot’s safety is unproven, according to the article.
Hospital leaders say it is not illegal for health-care institutions to mandate immunizations.
“As health-care workers, it is our sacred obligation to do whatever we can to protect our patients, who are the most vulnerable in our community,” Marc Boom, president and CEO of Houston Methodist told The Washington Post. “We proudly stand by our employees and our mission to protect our patients.”
Employees have until June 7 to get the vaccine, and 99 percent of the hospital’s 26,000 workers have so far complied, Boom told the paper.
“It is unfortunate,” he told the newspaper, “that the few remaining employees who refuse to get vaccinated and put our patients first are responding in this way.”
On Friday, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission posted updated guidelines that appear to give employers additional leeway with workers that flout vaccination mandates.
“Employers should keep in mind that because some individuals or demographic groups may face greater barriers to receiving a covid-19 vaccination than others,” it said, “some employees may be more likely to be negatively impacted by a vaccination requirement.”
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