Vaccine Mandates

[RiverDog]

Probably time for a new Covid thread.

WSU made national news yesterday by firing their head football coach, Nick Rolovich, one of the highest paid state employees, along with 4 assistant coaches, for refusing to comply with a vaccination mandate. He apparently had applied for a religious exemption and had that request denied:

Washington State head football coach Nick Rolovich has been fired for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the university announced Monday. Four assistant coaches were also fired for not being vaccinated.

Rolovich had previously said he would seek a religious exemption to the state's vaccine mandate, which he apparently was not granted.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nick-rolov ... 9-vaccine/

The process of reviewing vaccination exemptions was blind. The names of the applicants weren't made available to the reviewers. This is obviously going to end up in court, but it sends a strong signal to others in a similar predicament and a move that I fully support.

[Aseahawkfan]

That dude gave up a lot of money to make his stand. Or maybe he wanted a job somewhere else. I guess we'll see if he gets one quick. That'd be one way to get out of a contract.

[RiverDog]

That dude gave up a lot of money to make his stand. Or maybe he wanted a job somewhere else. I guess we'll see if he gets one quick. That'd be one way to get out of a contract.

The USC job is open, but there's not many FBS colleges with vacancies in the middle of the season. Rolovich was an assistant coach at the U of Hawaii and was lucky to land the WSU job. The other problem is that he's going to be ask is how he can put his personal beliefs over the health and welfare of his team and threaten his team's on field success by robbing them of their head coach and 4 assistants in the middle of the season by not getting vaccinated. IMO he's going to have a tough time finding a job as an assistant let alone a HC of a Power 5 conference school.

Rolovich is supposedly a Catholic, and the church has steadfastly supported vaccinations. About 80% of all Catholics are vaccinated with just 7% that are refusing. It would have been very difficult for him to use the teachings of his church to support his decision not to get vaccinated. There was some concern expressed by the church that the J&J vaccine raises questions about the moral permissibility of using vaccines developed, tested, and/or produced with the help of abortion-derived cell lines" but they still came out in support of any of the USDA-approved Covid vaccines in this statement made by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops:

“While we should continue to insist that pharmaceutical companies stop using abortion-derived cell lines, given the world-wide suffering that this pandemic is causing, we affirm again that being vaccinated can be an act of charity that serves the common good.”

"The Vatican has made clear that all the COVID-19 vaccines are morally acceptable. Let us pray that this deeply pro-life position will be proclaimed with one voice by our global church as we work together to protect life and advance the common good."

https://www.usccb.org/news/2021/us-bish ... 19-vaccine

It would be pretty tough for a person raised as a Catholic to convince a judge that they have a "genuinely held religious objection" to receiving a vaccine. Rolovich had a 5 year contract that was paying him $3M a year. As our friend Obi would say, he just tore up his winning lottery ticket.

[c_hawkbob]

A lot of people have given up their lives to make the same political stand. There is no nobility in it.

My coworker (there are only the two of us on my plant site) is a hard right MAGA covid denier that recently caught covid (he's just back to work yesterday). He's my age and very active with his family and while they are all vaccinated and begging him to get the shot he did not. Now he's bragging that his wife caught it too and her symptoms were worse than his so what's the use. I haven't pointed out to him yet that he's likely the one that brought covid to his family (I'm at a conference in Boston) and he owes his wife a big apology, but I don't think it would go anywhere if I did.

Refusing the shot shot is pure selfishness, whatever you tell yourself the reason is, it's all about you and you alone.

[RiverDog]

A lot of people have given up their lives to make the same political stand. There is no nobility in it.

My coworker (there are only the two of us on my plant site) is a hard right MAGA covid denier that recently caught covid (he's just back to work yesterday). He's my age and very active with his family and while they are all vaccinated and begging him to get the shot he did not. Now he's bragging that his wife caught it too and her symptoms were worse than his so what's the use. I haven't pointed out to him yet that he's likely the one that brought covid to his family (I'm at a conference in Boston) and he owes his wife a big apology, but I don't think it would go anywhere if I did.

Refusing the shot shot is pure selfishness, whatever you tell yourself the reason is, it's all about you and you alone.

You can't rationalize with people like your coworker.

My motivation for get the vaccine is two fold: Yes, I want to protect others and do my part towards ending this pandemic. But I have a very selfish reason for taking it: I don't want to get sick, and I don't care if my only symptom is a runny nose. Being sick sucks.

[RiverDog]

Most of the mandates in this state took effect this Monday, and so far, it looks like everything is going OK. Our largest hospital says that the mandate may actually help their staffing issues as fewer employees will be required to quarantine. They have about 90% that are either vaccinated or have received a religious exemption.

The state patrol had to dismiss 127 employees including 67 troopers state wide. They have over 2,000 employees. 3 of our largest local school districts are reporting 96% plus compliance. They are having to adjust a few bus routes due to both the mandates and an overall shortage of drivers not related to the mandate. So at least from a local standpoint, the mandates are working.

My biggest criticism of Biden is that he didn't issue the federal mandate soon enough. It was the federal government's mandate that gave other entities the legal and moral cover to institute their own mandates.

The next battle will be getting kids 5-11 vaccinated. I'm also looking forward to getting a booster once the FDA gives formal approval to the Moderna vaccine for 65+

[tarlhawk]

Does anyone know if those fired for refusing the mandate are eligible for unemployment?

[RiverDog]

Does anyone know if those fired for refusing the mandate are eligible for unemployment?

If they were fired for cause, which I believe is how they're classifying these terminations, most likely not. But they can appeal, and believe me as I've been involved in a number of unemployment grievances, the system is highly stacked in favor of the employee, and perhaps rightfully so as at least in this state, we all pay unemployment insurance as part of our payroll deductions, so all they're asking for is funds that they've paid into the system.

They just announced that Nick Rolovich, the WSU head football coach that was terminated for refusing the vaccination mandate, is suing the college (surprise surprise).

[RiverDog]

I received an email from the federal government yesterday telling me to go get a Covid vaccine booster shot immediately, that their signal was getting really weak. So since the FDA gave approval to the Moderna booster for 65+, I went and got one. Man, those microchips sure made my arm sore.

On a different topic, apparently Nick Rolovich, the anti vaxxer former WSU head football coach, after being told that his religious exemption was denied, was given an option of taking the vaccine that day then and going on either 2 weeks vacation or 2 weeks unpaid leave, or be terminated. I assume that's SOP for all those that have their exemptions denied.

After he made his decision, he wasn't allowed to return to his office or address the team and was given a police escort off campus. Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!

[RiverDog]

This is the stupidest thing that I've seen so far that trumps even Aaron Rodgers' "immunization" techniques:

In a TikTok video that has garnered hundreds of thousands of views, Dr. Carrie Madej outlined the ingredients for a bath she said will “detox the vaxx” for people who have given into Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

The ingredients in the bath are mostly not harmful, although the supposed benefits attached to them are entirely fictional. Baking soda and epsom salts, she falsely claims, will provide a “radiation detox” to remove radiation Madej falsely believes is activated by the vaccine. Bentonite clay will add a “major pull of poison,” she says, based on a mistaken idea in anti-vaccine communities that toxins can be removed from the body with certain therapies.

Then, recommends adding in one cup of borax, a cleaning agent that’s been banned as a food additive by the Food and Drug Administration, to “take nanotechnologies out of you.”

In reality, in addition to being potentially harmful as a skin and eye irritant, a borax “detox bath” will not remove the effects of the Covid vaccine from your body.

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/ ... x-rcna4859

Never in my life have I seen so many people reacting so stupidly to something like the Covid vaccines.