Stephanie Grandy, a registered nursing nurse, was fired from her job in Maine after refusing to follow her employer's mandate regarding vaccines. Stephanie Grandy
For refusing to follow vaccine mandates, thousands of Americans lost their jobs.
Insider discovered two dozen GoFundMe posts by jobless people seeking help to pay their bills.
Insider heard from one woman who said she refused the vaccine for religious reasons. She doesn't regret it.
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Many Americans are expressing regret that they were fired because of their employers' refusal to comply with vaccine mandates. They have turned to GoFundMe for assistance, and don't regret it.
In September, President Joe Biden announced a broad vaccine mandate. All employees of businesses employing more than 100 people must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Although the rules are not yet finalized and implemented, many employers have mandated them sooner. Some states, such as California and Maine, have mandates at the state level that are in effect for several weeks.
Many people, including airline workers and healthcare workers, have lost their jobs as a result. Some people welcomed the mandate as necessary to increase vaccination rates, while others criticized it as an authoritarian order.
Many people are now without an income because they have ignored vaccine mandates. Insider discovered more than two dozen GoFundMe pages that were set up by people seeking financial assistance to pay their bills and launch legal action against their former employers.
Stephanie Grandy is one of the people asking for assistance. She was a registered nurse at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital, Maine until August 31, when her contract was terminated.
Grandy, a practicing Messianic Jew, said that she refused the vaccine for religious and ethical reasons.
"Then, we discovered that they used aborted foetus cell lines for the research and development. We consider abortion murder. These drugs would be considered a crime to put into our bodies.
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Fetal cell lines - cells derived from the DNA of aborted fetuses – were used to develop several mRNA vaccines and in the production of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. As a result, many pro-life organizations have avoided the vaccine. The US-based Messianic Jewish Rabbinical Council urges its followers to get vaccinated. It also notes that not all vaccines are made from fetal cells.
Grandy was employed at Northern Light AR Gould Hospital. Grandy applied for a religious exemption to Maine law. But Gov. Janet Mills ended that exemption last month.
Grandy stated that the new policy required everyone to get the shot.
She said that she didn't regret her decision and that many of her coworkers only received the vaccine to maintain their jobs.
She said that although nurses, CNAs [certified nursing assistants], housekeeping and dietary staff she worked with didn't want to give the shot, most were forced to because there was literally nowhere else to work.
Insider was unable to verify the claim independently and has reached out to Northern Light AR Gould.
Kaimi Peelekai is one of the others seeking assistance on GoFundMe. He claimed he was fired from the Honolulu Fire Department as a Captain after refusing to be vaccinated. Insider reached out to the department for comment but they did not respond.
Business Insider has the original article.
