Vaccines, Mandates & COVID-19

Hello Mr. Johnson and team, 

I am a hospital employee who is being mandated to get the COVID vaccine. It is still EUA and is still in clinical trials.  I have been an RN for 10 years. I finished my Masters this year to teach nursing students at MSOE and Marquette this fall.  I am 32 years old. A mother of 2 beautiful little children and I’ve already have COVID in Oct 2020 and have natural immunity. There is NO REASON I should be mandated to receive this vaccine. The mandate does not follow science or our freedoms, not to mention it goes against the nursing code of ethics that I follow on a daily basis. I am asking for your help to help get rid of these mandates, please! I am fearful for what our hospitals will look like if the mandate continues. I am already losing many coworkers. 

This email is to inform you of the current situation in healthcare. I was hired by Children's Wisconsin in 1993 as a clinic nursing assistant. I was proud to work for such a prestigious healthcare system until recently. Two years ago Children's was in great need for Medical Assistants and offered the opportunity to return to school for this certification, tuition paid. I applied and was accepted into the program the end of August 2019. I signed an agreement that stated I would continue to work for them as an MA for two years upon graduation or reimburse my tuition, about $18,000. I graduated with honors from Herzing University in December 2019. Nowhere in the agreement is there language about vaccine status. The agreement was pre-pandemic. Like you, I am Covid recovered, and don't wish to take this vaccine. I plan on applying for a religious exemption (I haven't sent the letter yet). In the last 2 weeks Children's has lost many (I personally know of at least 10) good employees because of this mandate. My concerns are many. If they accept my exemption I will be working in an environment that is short staffed and stressful. If they don't accept it and I still refuse the vaccine they will consider that as a "resignation" and probably sue me for the tuition that they paid. I love working as medical assistant in their Urgent Care, but this issue is becoming a safety hazard as my department alone has lost at least 5 people. I'm lost as to what to do. I feel strongly that these mandates are dangerous to our republic and threaten our freedom. I also feel that in my situation that this is coercion. Any intervention your office can do to stop these mandates will be appreciated by many. I belong to a private group on Telegram of Children's employees (current, and recently quit). By my estimate about 150 employees just from this group either have left already or plan to leave, or they are stuck, like me.

Dear Senator Johnson,                                                          

I am writing to you to share my concerns as Registered Nurse regarding my observations as follows:

I work in critical care in a large medical center. When SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations began to be administered under Emergency Use Authorization, I expected for hospital staff to receive training regarding serious adverse events and how to report them. This was not done.  Most doctors, midlevel providers, and nurses do not know about VAERS and what is required to be reported. On any given 12-hour shift, I am seeing patients be admitted to the ICU within days or weeks of receiving the vaccines after suffering sudden changes in their health status such as CVA’s, Pulmonary Embolus, DVT’s, myocardial infarctions, sudden cardiac arrests, severe thrombocytopenia, altered mental status, encephalopathy with unknown etiology, and new onset of seizures, for example. Doctors have been asked if the vaccines could have caused these sudden events and if they should be reported but they consistently deny any connection and none are reported. The underreporting of serious adverse events following these injections is staggering and is causing serious safety signals with these injections to be missed.

Healthcare workers in hospitals who have sincere concerns regarding the safety of the injections are facing hostility and they are being silenced and intimidated. The hospital I work for has mandated the injections for all staff. They do not wish to see or admit that there is a potential for injury from these injections. Physicians are ridiculing those of us who do not wish to receive the injections and advocate for us to lose our jobs. Those of us who have had Covid and already enjoy a robust immunity are also being forced to take the shots which demonstrates that these mandates have nothing to do with the prevention of infection transmission.

I also have serious concerns that reporting of the vaccination status of patients admitted with Covid is fraudulent. I have seen several instances where a patient was fully vaccinated per the patient’s and family members report, yet the electronic medical record lists the vaccination status as “unknown.” Also, I have seen doctors refuse to allow family members of Covid patients at the end of life to visit unless they are vaccinated. This is not in accordance with the hospital’s visiting policy and is clearly punitive and discriminatory.

Dear Senator Johnson,

I have had several patients with significant reactions to various vaccines. Most were not severe or life threatening, but some were, including one death. I am also seeing many patients now with Covid, and many have had full vaccination.

63 y/o lady began feeling very bad after her second Moderna vaccine, was nauseated over a weekend, unable to work the next Monday.  Later she developed shortness of breath and wheezing and was hospitalized about 2 weeks after the vaccination with severe hypertension, pulmonary edema, heart failure. 

84 y/o lady had hot and cold spells, flushing intermittently, generalized tingling feeling in different areas for several weeks. Blood work showed a newly positive ANA of 1:320.  She had significant improvement after starting hydroxychloroquine.  

64 y/o man awakened with altered mental state (basically a transient global amnesia) about a week after his first Pfizer vaccine. Admitted to hospital for a couple of days where his symptoms cleared completely.  TGA is essentially a TIA equivalent. 

71 y/o lady with advanced chronic kidney disease but still very functional had her first vaccine on a Thursday, and on Friday was non-verbal, unable to eat or communicate and died 7 days after the jab. 

64 y/o diabetic lady had her first Moderna vaccine and seven days later had severe hypoglycemic reactions (very unusual for her). 

71 y/o man three days after his second vaccine developed generalized joint pains, especially in his hands (MP joints). A blood test later showed his RA latex to be 113 (normal <14).

Elderly nursing home resident with COPD began feeling achy and nauseated with some confusion a few days after her first shot of the Moderna. A few days later, she had increased dyspnea, requiring more O2 and chest Xray showed signs of heart failure. Eight days after the vaccine, she was admitted to hospital with stroke like symptoms.

One elderly lady developed choreiform movements after her second vaccine. 

Another lady developed significantly worse memory issues (according to her daughter) after her second dose. 

Dear Senator Johnson,

Over the past 18 months as a pulmonary/critical care physican, I have worked to care for COVID patients with all spectrums of disease ranging from outpatient therapy, inpatient floor status, and COVID ICU.  We have learned to adapt our plans to care for these patients and improve their survival and recovery.  Since the warp speed COVID vaccine EUA, I have been concerned about what we have seen locally, nationally, and worldwide.  I have witnessed patients in our community within 4 days of vaccination suffer sudden cardiac death, heart attacks, strokes, acute heart failure with subsequent in hospital cardiac arrest and eventual death due to poor neurologic recovery.  There have been patients with septic shock and purpura fulminans developing multi-system organ failure and death all within 4 days of vaccination with reports of feeling unwell since injection. There have been other patients who suffered acute deterioration of previously stable underlying neurological disease such as MS going from walking to being bed bound with weeks post vaccination.  We have observed a few patients presenting with interstitial lung inflammation post vaccination that responded to steroids but have not been able to tolerate a taper off. 

Throughout the country in physician groups, many have reported an usual increase in stroke codes called in younger patients than one would expect.  Our own team here has witnessed a similar uptick in the number of daily stroke codes called to the ED with a particularly younger patient population presenting with signs of stroke than prior to mass vaccination.  Many hospital workers who received the vaccination have reported symptoms of debilitating fatigue and brain fog ever since their vaccination.  Unfortunately, many of these events go un-reported, un-recognized, or deemed un-related to vaccination despite that being the only new variable.  One of our clinic RNs reports that anaphylaxis and seizures occuring post vaccination in the COVID vaccine clinic was a “usual” occurance and she expressed concern stating, “That is just not normal.  We don’t see this with other vaccines.”  We have witnessed our own nursing staff suffer fetal demise at > 20 weeks following vaccine administration.  These events were deemed typical fetal demise as no one would suspect that the vaccine they have been told is “safe and effective” for pregnant women could be a contributing factor.  Since the initiation of extending vaccination down to age 12, we have witness thousands of cases of myocarditis in adolescents across the United States, some of which have died with hours to days of receiving their second dose of the Pfizer vaccine.  These events alone should have halted use in adolescents and children.  It deeply concerns me that we have not followed standard protocol with these experimental therapies. 

With any other experimental therapy, out of an abundance of caution to FIRST DO NO HARM, an adverse event would be assumed due to the intervention until definitive evidence would deem it unrelated.  This has not been the case.  I am deeply concerned that we are willing to exposure our children and adolescents to an injection for COVID 19 knowing the risk of severe disease or disability from natural infection for a healthy child or adolescent is low and the risk of death is nearly zero.  With the overall number of adverse event and deaths reported via VAERS in the very short time span this vaccine has been under EUA, it should have been pulled from use months ago for all ages.  Now, we want to recommend a third-booster injection which also has not been studied in any group.  We have no long term data, but the short term data is concerning to those who are actually looking at it with a critical mind and concerned for the best interest of our patients and communities.   We are concerned that patients have not been offered informed consent for this experimental therapy injected into their body under EUA.  We are concerned that natural immunity is being overlooked and those patients are still being mandated to take the vaccine despite the data supporting long lasting natural immunity.  There is evidence to suggest those individuals who have previously recovered from COVID 19 may be at higher risk for death and adverse events post-vaccination particularly in our frail elderly population.  

Most recently, the true value of the vaccination comes into question as we are seeing vaccinated patients not only can aquire infection, spread infection, and become severely ill, hospitalized, and die from severe infection.  We have witnessed increasing rates of cases in the fully vaccinated requiring outpatient treatment, hospital admission, and ICU care including requiring invasive ventilatory support.  One week ago, 4 of the 11 ICU patients were fully vaccinated with 2 of them on invasive ventilatory support and 2 on non-invasive ventilatory support and the numbers continue to increase.  We can clearly see that mass, indiscriminate vaccination is not working and not the answer to beating this pandemic.  We should continue to consider offering an effective vaccination to high risk patients who wish to receive it after informed consent on the risks, goals of treatment, and therapeutic alternatives. It should not be recommended for low risk individuals particularly healthy children and adolescents.  A vaccine should have a better safety profile before recommending in pregnancy, and certainly a better safetly and benefit profile before considering full approval.  I urge you to hear our plea for caution and recommend against full approval of this vaccination at this time.  The safety and efficacy profiles are concerning to many in the medical community.  I fear we will see more complications as a third booster shot program begins.  Again, we must use an abundance of caution and choose to first do no harm to our healthy population whose risk of severe disease and death is extremely low from this virus and there are viable treatment options. Written and signed with deepest concern for our patients and citizens.

I have worked for CentraCare for almost 7 years now and have been in health care most of my life as it runs in my family. I have worked as an CNA since 2007, an LPN since 2009 and most recently a RN since 2019. 

First of all, I would like to explain my work during the pandemic, when it first came around, I was sent from my department of dermatology when the lockdowns started occurring to work in the Acute Respiratory Clinics and swab tents. I worked my full-time hours and sometimes more daily from March up until mid-July 2020. I saw thousands of the asymptomatic, and some very ill. I sacrificed my summer, my dream job in Dermatology, and hours of my time helping out during our time of need. I offered to help in multiple different ways and positions and provided water and ice cream to my co-workers when it was 95+ degrees in the tents. On top of that I worked with the Minnesota State Emergency Operations and worked in multiple COVID Long Term Care Units across the state (I had a total of 11 W-2s last year all but one was covid nursing). I am well aware of many of the symptoms, and how different people are affected differently, as with very many diseases and illnesses. There were multiple occasions I knew our PPE wasn’t working effective, but we made do with what we had, never once was I concerned for my own safety other than being exhausted from all my extra hours as this is what nursing is about. According to two different antibody tests and Covid swabs I have never tested positive, despite prior to the pandemic and testing I was very ill along with family members, when I believe I had it. I have held the hands of those dying who had to be separated from their families, not because they had COVID but because they were on hospice for other causes, depressed and their loved ones had to say good-bye through an I Pad. 

As you can see, I am well aware of the implications of COVID. 

Yes, I was mandated to have a few vaccinations as terms of my employment. These vaccinations took many years to be approved and were not mandated until years of research and approval were completed. These vaccinations have the common side effects of low-grade fever, chills, fatigue and muscle aches, potential for irritation at injection site, that last for 24-72 hours. The COVID vaccinations have a multitude of concerning side effects that are lasting longer than 72 hours, more so than what is listed on their patient education sheet, which cannot be called a Vaccine Information Sheet (VIS) because there is not enough research or information to provide one. These side effects are lymphadenopathy, myocarditis, Bell’s palsy, and so on. I currently work for our triage phone line. I have received many calls from patients that have very concerning initial side effects from the vaccination. Unfortunately I don't see the multiple follow up appointments post reaction nor am I allowed to check up weeks later. Of the side effects I have seen they seem to have no other clinical correlation other than just receiving the vaccination. First you have those that receive one or two doses and they are so incredibly ill, the develop shortness of breath a cough, a high fever, muscle aches and body aches and these symptoms last for days to the point where they are tested for covid and sometimes still negative. Others have experienced large swelling of lymph nodes in their axillary areas and collar bone areas. I had one patient the swelling didn't start until a week later started in the axilla of the side her injection was on, and spread across her collar bone area and the lymph nodes became so big it was bothering her to swallow and breathe. I have had patients with severe blood clots in their legs or elsewhere. I have had patients with chest pain, and shortness of breath who have had to go to the emergency department for a heart attack. We have had kids, who develop shortness of breath, chest pain and uncontrollable shivering - for hours on end with no fever, which I only can assume is neurological, and tremors. I have a friend whose husband had an experience where she thought he was going to die because his blood pressure fluctuated and his heart raced so much post vaccination 30 minutes after as well as hours after. All of the side effects I have seen require emergency department dispositions flooding our hospitals with patients. And these are just the current short term effects that could last long term or life-long but who knows?! Studies that have been performed show there is possible hyper reaction to reinfection which is almost always fatal. This vaccine is attacking our immune systems and I am willing to almost bet we see an uptick in autoimmune disease in those vaccinated. I think the more heartbreaking cases I have seen are the elderly who in fear have not left their homes for over a year, they went and got the "life saving vaccine" and then assume they can participate in society again because they are protected, and then bam they come down with covid symptoms, and these symptoms hit them hard, weakness, dizziness, shortness of breath, cough, loss of appetite. If they don't have help in their homes they are left to die. No one has ever promoted to them adequate care if you have covid or treatment at home care. No, it's just wait until you can't breathe then give us a call. All around the care our patients are receiving is not right. We are silenced on the side effects we are seeing and everything is censored to follow the guidance from the doctors and administrators who many have not even touched a covid patient.

The nurses code of ethics talks about autonomy where our patients have the right to decide and choose, and have informed consent. How can we properly obtain informed consent with such a vast array of side effects and not enough data to consider long term side effects?

Yes, all vaccines have side effects, some can be potentially fatal, but based on research I have done on my own on the VAERS website, CDC, WHO on a non-biased web search platform as well as just personal experience working with the CareConnect, I was receiving very scary phone calls with side effects that I have never experienced with vaccinations before. Prior to working with CentraCare I was an immunization coordinator at my rural health clinic that I worked at. I am not anti-vaccination by any means, but there is very little research on this vaccination and not only that it has been noted in the news and the CDC that the data in which the research was conducted is not very reliable in itself. We are conducting research based on numbers that are not accurate. Currently on VAERS data for the COVID vaccination, regardless of what manufacturer there have been 12,366 deaths attributed to the COVID Vaccination, 46,036 hospitalizations, 92,527 office visits, 4,044 Bell’s Palsy and 4,759 episodes of anaphylaxis. In comparison, the mandated vaccinations for terms of employment for such as Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Tetanus Diphtheria and Pertussis and Influenza, vaccinations have a total of 290 deaths. Most recent Influenza vaccinations - which are mandated yearly, or we have the option to wear a mask if we refuse - report per VAERS documentation for last year 140 deaths, 123 anaphylaxis episodes, 4 episodes of Bell’s Palsy. Again, I am not anti-vaccine, I am just skeptical and well aware of the side effects of the items I put in my body, especially when currently my risk of COVID death is less than 1%. 

I have been called out by some medical colleagues as not being a leader because I am not comfortable with receiving the vaccine. I am not discouraging others to get it. In fact some of my friends and family have received it and that is their choice. I will always advocate for my patient’s right to choose. Who now will advocate for me? I feel I am being a leader and making my own informed decision based on the critical thinking I have been taught over my many years of nursing. I believe we should all have this choice. We advocate for our patients. It's time to advocate for us. The country of Sweden has almost completely eradicated COVID and is not having reinfections with the Delta Variant because they have natural immunity. Yes, unfortunately with as with any disease, some died, a total of 14,621 (1,438 people/per million) to date in Sweden, versus the U.S - as of today we have had 637,561 (1,914 people/per million) deaths to date. However, these numbers may be skewed as well as the CDC has admitted that the COVID death counts have been incorrectly reported. Sweden’s current death rate for COVID for the past week seven whole days has been ZERO.

Dear Senator Johnson,

I am a Registered Nurse with 33 years experience, two Master's degrees, and board certification in Nursing Professional Development. I have a specialized role and am the only educator in the hospital where I currently work. On November 1st I will be "released from employment" for "violating conditions of employment" because I will not get the COVID vaccine or flu vaccines, both of which were recently made mandatory. 

I filed for an exemption, but am not optimistic about it being approved. Not only will I lose my job, but my health and life insurance, and tens of thousands of dollars in future retirement benefits. But this is not about me. Our small hospital will lose many qualified and dedicated staff because of the mandates. Many have no other income source. Some were injected because they couldn't afford to lose their job. Yet, during the pandemic, they worked like beasts, picking up shifts, filling in for others, doing whatever was needed. 

We are now facing a severe staffing shortage. Hospitals around the country seem to be working in unison, leaving nurses with nowhere to go, unless they get the vaccine. I am standing up against the mandate,  because what is going on is not right. We have not been told the truth about side effects, safety, and effectivess. There is too much we do not know. We all want to keep everyone safe, including ourselves, but there are concerns about the vaccine that make it difficult for healthcare workers to feel good about taking it.  I am not anti-vax, but I am anti-coercion and anti-mandate. Medical freedom must be defended. 

I would like to share my personal story about my current struggle with the Covid-19 vaccine mandate. 

I am 28 years old and I work as a front line RN. We were recently informed of the mandate and required to get the vaccine in less than one month. One year ago I was a hero because I was caring for sick Covid patients that were coughing in my face. I contracted Covid and brought it home to my entire family including my 4 month old son, 90 year old grandpa, immune compromised mother, and other family members. 

After months of symptoms that disrupted our lives we have all recovered, thank God. Now, I’m being told that I have to get vaccinated or I will lose my job. I’m witnessing patients come into the hospital with life threatening vaccine adverse reactions. I am NOT antivax but I truly know this vaccine is simply not safe. It’s still an experiment after all. Also important to note I have natural immunity from having the virus. Not to mention I would be only protecting myself by getting the vaccine I don’t want. Above all It should be my choice!!!  

My patients need me, my young family needs me, and I have a lot of life yet to live. Some people say to me, well it is your choice to decline the vaccine and loose your job. However, it's likely the mandate is going to trickle into all of the medical field. I do not stand alone in this thinking and if we are all forced out of our career who will care for our loved ones when we are already so short staffed!?

There are labor shortages at my hospital. We are already short nurses. There are days our ICU does not run with enough staff along with all the other medical floors. We do not have enough dietary help to feed the hospital workers. Their efforts are to feed the patients. There are not enough housekeepers to keep up with needs of the hospital either. This mandate is being felt throughout the hospital. I foresee units needing to shut down. The hospital is offering an extra $30/hr for nurses and $15/hour for CNAs to pick up extra shifts. The remaining staff will be burnt out quickly. If our ICU cannot run, I’m not what will happen in the winter months to come.

Dear Senator Ron Johnson,

I have my bachelor’s degree in nursing and have been practicing as a registered nurse for 6 years. I currently work at a local hospital here in Minnesota for a large healthcare system and have been there for 4 years. I am writing you today to share with you the extreme level of concern I have regarding the current push for vaccine mandates. Never before have we seen such a push to receive a vaccine; the coercion, incentives, rewards, threats, etc. I believe the concerns myself and others have regarding these vaccines are completely legitimate and should be taken into consideration. At the core of the nursing profession is advocacy for our patients. We take an oath to do no harm. As a moral, good-practicing nurse, I wouldn’t dream of forcing one of my patients to take a medication or have a procedure done against their will, whatever their reason may be. I will always educate and inform my patient, to allow them to make a decision with informed consent. With the current vaccine mandate at my job, I truly feel my right to informed consent is being stripped away. I have researched the vaccine, read the adverse effects, seen the VAERS statistics, read others’ personal testimonies urging against the vaccine after having received it themselves, etc. I do not feel that it is in my best interest to receive this vaccine. Yet, I am being told I must have my first dose by October 1, 2021 or I will lose my job, if I am not granted a sincerely held religious belief or medical exemption.  I do not think this is right, nor fair. Since when do we not have freedom to choose?

It’s infuriating to me to know that so many doctors and nurses are feeling the need to remain silent out of fear for their license and jobs, including myself. Doctors’ licenses are being threatened for spreading “misinformation” if they speak against the vaccine. Many doctors, nurses and scientists around the world have spoken out about their concerns with these vaccines, urging people not to get them, but they have been continuously silenced. Many of them have lost their jobs and have had their license suspended. WHY? If this vaccine is so good and saving so many lives, why is there a need to silence those who have concern? We’ve always been a society with the freedom to have differing opinions and the ability to share as such. Not anymore. 

I have deep concern over this loss of our medical freedoms. If this, then what will be next? This attempted control over the medical field is only the beginning. It will trickle down to every other career, profession, field and family — as it already is beginning to. It is not fair that many of us are having to choose between our livelihoods or our job. This mandate must be stopped. The adverse events and side effects that have resulted from this vaccine are traumatizing. Wherever there is such risk, there absolutely needs to be a choice. I’ve felt extremely sad over these mandates within the healthcare system I work for. I absolutely love my job and feel that nursing is my calling. However, I am willing to risk it all simply out my strong conviction to not take this vaccine.

I thank you for your time and attention to this very important matter. Please fight hard for this.

Dear Senator Johnson, I am a family physician practicing in Wisconsin. I have a few concerns I have observed in my practice I would like to share with you.

 1) Regarding the reporting of Covid vaccine adverse events to VAERS, I suspect adverse events are significantly underreported. I have patients who have had severe reactions to the COVID vaccine and have found during their follow up visits with me, that they have been told to self-report to VAERS, in spite of their reactions meeting the qualifications for severe reactions that for any other licensed vaccine in the U.S., a health care provider would be required by law to report. The Covid vaccine is not listed in the “VAERS Table of Reportable Events following Vaccination” (https://vaers.hhs.gov/ docs/VAERS_Table_of_Reportable_Events_Following_Vaccination.pdf), and I suspect because they are not required to report, healthcare providers are instead telling patients to report. My patients did not self-report, for a multitude of reasons: they were unfamiliar with the system, they were ill and not up to adding another task to their plate, they were not aware of the importance of reporting, etc. I took the time out of my clinic day to report the events to VAERS and was astonished that the system was so incredibly time consuming and filled with software defects that I could hardly complete the process. I did report, however, because I am aware of the experimental status of the vaccine and the importance of reporting to assist with data collection for the ongoing process of approval. My patients suffered cardiotoxic effects requiring ER visits and for one, hospitalization, and repeated syncopal events, that certainly are severe enough for mandated reporting, yet the VAERS system is not mandating these events be reported. Even my patients who report that they have otherwise healthy family members who have died following Covid vaccination are unsure if these events have been reported to VAERS, and indeed on review of the VAERS website, reporting these events is “encouraged” but not required. Why? Why would an experimental vaccine not MANDATE reporting of all adverse events?

2) I learned this week that my patients who have previously been vaccine hesitant are now obtaining the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19, because they believe it is now FDA approved and is therefore, deemed “safe.” When I shared with them that this currently available vaccine is not actually FDA approved, but rather has an extended EUA, and it is instead, the Comirnaty Pfizer-BioNTech that is not yet available on the market that has FDA approval, they were surprised. They told me they asked specifically at the pharmacy whether the vaccine they were getting was FDA approved, and they were clearly told “yes,” and so obtained the vaccine. There is extreme confusion regarding this distinction between the Pfizer vaccine currently available vs the approved Comirnaty, and patients are clearly being told that they are receiving an FDA approved vaccine when this is in fact false. I am an employed physician and have received communication from my organization stating “the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine which was fully approved (under new name of Comirnaty) by the FDA for ages 16 years and older earlier this week.” A name change is never just a name change in the world of pharmaceuticals. What is the difference between these vaccines?

3) My patients with Covid-19 who are very ill are being sent home without any treatment from the ER, only with instruction to pick up a pulse oximeter from the pharmacy and to come back if their oxygen saturation is consistently under 90% so that they can be admitted to the hospital. For instance, I had a patient with cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, whose chest X-ray showed multiple patchy infiltrates consistent with Covid pneumonia. Other lab studies indicated low potassium. She was sent home with no treatment even for her cough (we have inhalers and antitussives she could have been prescribed but was not), only with a prescription for 2 days of potassium supplements, instructions to hydrate well, rest, and get a pulse oximeter, and come back if she was under 90% O2, for admission. I saw her via video the next day, and at least prescribed the symptomatic treatments for cough, and recommendations for vitamin supplementation that has been demonstrated to help, including vitamin D. This is happening in myriad cases, across the US. Why are patients not receiving even the MINIMUM of care for Covid-19, even symptomatically, for cough or shortness of breath? On a case by case basis in my area, outpatient physicians and providers have been following the outpatient treatment recommendations in the iMask+ protocols put forth by the FLCCC, which are based on robust data and ongoing investigation into ivermectin for treatment of Covid-19. This past week, my organization sent instruction to all providers to stop prescribing ivermectin. The instruction specifically stated: “Ongoing prescribing of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19 will result in ambulatory peer review and possible disciplinary action through established medical group processes.” Never in my career have I been advised against prescribing a medication by my organization. As physicians, we are guided by our Hippocratic Oath and medical training, and allowed the discretion to review data and prescribe medications that have demonstrated effectiveness. This is unprecedented, occurring in the last 2 years with both hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Why are physicians not allowed to try to help our patients stay healthy and out of the hospital? Additionally, I would like to add that I myself have concerns about the Covid 19 vaccine safety and efficacy data being notably lacking in robustness. In addition to my medical degree, I previously obtained a master’s degree in public health in the field of toxicology from the University of Michigan. I have previously worked at the EPA in the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division, and observed during my time there the painstaking process of EPA approval of pesticides. Our division was responsible for “fast tracking” more “safe” pesticides such as lemongrass, eucalyptus, rosemary, etc., and even the approval of applications for these agents took several years. Vaccine application approval typically involves many years of testing and study review, typically around 10 to 12. The vaccine currently available, a new mRNA technology, was rushed through testing and review, and the usual painstaking process of multiple safety and efficacy reviews, was bypassed. Now these same vaccines are being mandated. Most people are unaware that there has not been a full approval of any currently available vaccine. As I above noted, there is no mandated reporting of the Covid-19 vaccine reactions, hence there is a high likelihood of significant underreporting of adverse events and deaths. There are so many concerns I have as a physician and toxicologist regarding the use of this vaccine. We seemingly have not learned from our mistakes, for example in past FDA approval of thalidomide and diethylstilbestrol, and in use of the swine flu vaccine in 1976. My fear is that this is yet another mistake. However, as a physician employed by a large organization in Wisconsin, I am being told to get the vaccine or be terminated. My personal religious exemption is “under review” and “determination letters will be sent out by 9/6,” or so I was told. As a discerning physician, scientist, and practicing Catholic with a well-formed conscience, I will be told by my organization whether or not my conscientious objection is good enough to be exempted from their mandate. This is happening all over the country. Is this the way our country works now?

Thank you sincerely for your efforts in learning the truth. Please let me know if I can provide further information or be of further assistance.

Dear Senator Johnson,

I am a healthcare worker in the city of Franklin. I recently returned to work and one of my nurse colleagues informed me about the protests being mounted by healthcare workers who have a problem with forced vaccination. She encouraged me to reach out to you to voice my concerns. I have a college degree in biomedical science, and I consider myself educated in the understanding of pathogens, the pathogenesis process, immunology, and pharmacology. I've done my due diligence and researched the statistics for myself, unlike most citizens I would venture to guess. It angers me greatly, that my wife and I (who both work in healthcare) are being forced to take this brand new, untested injection. We are young healthy individuals who are at no risk of dying from this virus. The hospitals are rejecting almost all exemptions from what we hear through the grapevine. I think I speak for most Americans when I say we are tired of being pawns in these political games. We love this country and everything it offers and stands for. We just want to be able to work and make a living; enjoy our lives and be left alone. Is there anything that we can realistically do to keep our jobs without being pharmaceutical test subjects? I'm here asking for help or suggestions on how to supplement the massive pay cuts we face, if we walk away from healthcare and are forced to start from the bottom of brand new careers.

Dear Senator Johnson,

I am a registered nurse and have been a practicing nurse in an acute care inpatient unit for 2 years. I have worked in the healthcare field for 8 years, and support proven vaccines, medical interventions, and most importantly, I support evidence based practice.

I work for one of the largest health systems in Minnesota. I have worked there for four years. Last month the board of directors issued a statement mandating all staff to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of whether the job description requires patient contact. If employees wish to decline the vaccine they must submit medical and religious exemption forms. If these requests are denied and an appeal is not granted, these employees (including myself) will face the consequences. That is, our company will terminate employees on October 31, 2021 should they elect to decline an experimental medical intervention.

I support proven vaccines, but I also support evidence based practice. Thus far, we have no long term evidence for the effects of this vaccine on ourselves, our families, our patients. Television ads target pregnant mothers that “it’s a myth the vaccine isn’t safe while pregnant” when in reality, the research is not available for longitudinal studies simply because not enough time has passed. The comprehensive list of side effects of this vaccine are unknown, but virologists are beginning to note severe effects on major body systems, including cardiac, neurological, cancer, life threatening allergic reactions, paralysis, and death. Most vaccines are paused and extensively analyzed once more than 50 death reports are submitted to VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Effects Reporting System). With over 200 deaths reportedly related to this vaccine in Minnesota alone (and thousands nationwide), why is it that vaccinations were not stopped and the vaccines analyzed? Why are we being forced to vaccinate or lose our jobs? Why are we being condescended to when asking questions or attempting to discuss natural immunity to the virus?  Additionally, we are seeing an increase in breakthrough cases in vaccinated individuals. Therefore, why would the COVID-19 vaccine be required when it is not proving to be highly effective?

Hospitals everywhere are facing heightened staffing demands. This is another legitimate concern regarding this recent Covid-19 vaccine mandate. Staff retention is low across the state due to pandemic stressors and many facilities have a capped census because they lack the staff that would be working to take care of patients. Many nurses at my facility have already left and are looking for new jobs that do not require or “mandate” the vaccine. Who will replace the staff that leaves? When I asked my supervisor what we were going to do about staffing in October when people leave or are fired, she answered, “We will have to see.” In reality, unsafe staffing has been proven time and again to have low patient outcomes and experiences.

Furthermore, the vaccine mandate is a significant threat to my autonomy. As a nurse I am trained to witness informed consent for procedures and I am required to advocate for my patient’s rights in various situations, regardless of a provider's recommendation(s). If my employer is requiring me to follow through with these sacred duties, why are they taking away my right to choose, my right to advocate for myself? If they allow patients to leave a unit to go outside and smoke cigarettes, why would they not let me decline this vaccine, as both decisions are viewed as “detrimental to health” but both decisions maintain personal autonomy.

Medical mandates go against ethical values and what America was founded on: personal autonomy and the freedom to choose.

Dear Senator Johnson,

I am a Wisconsin nurse and have worked in long-term care for over 25 years. I am distressed about Mr. Biden's intent to mandate a vaccine for employees in nursing homes in order to continue to receive federal funding. I will allow myself to be fired from my job, and walk away from nursing completely rather than be forced to take a vaccine that I am hesitant about. I am not the only person at my facility that feels this way. As you probably know, the workforce in healthcare is already depleted and cannot sustain an even 10% walkout of their workforce. Please, Senator Johnson, do what you can to oppose this mandate.

Dear Senator Johnson, 

Thank you for taking the time to discuss the very important issue of vaccine mandates and particularly as it impacts healthcare workers. 

I want to start off by saying that it is absolutely true that a large number of doctors and nurses do not support this vaccine, from a safety or efficacy perspective. To say we are skeptical is an understatement of grand proportion.  

Many of us have witnessed the adverse side effects in our clinical practice, whether higher numbers of heart attacks and strokes, to very strange skin infections and abscesses.  

We see people hospitalized when they might have been able to stay at home and been treated as an outpatient if only they had been offered appropriate medication. Never in the history of modern medicine have we diagnosed a disease, and then told patients to go home and wait until they get sick enough to come back. We have always focused on early intervention, but not this time. Over 18 months into a worldwide pandemic, and we still claim not to have any outpatient treatments that are effective? The thing is, tens of thousands of us at least know that there are effective treatments that are not being allowed. Our doctors will not prescribe them. And pharmacies will not fill them. We use countless numbers of prescription drugs off-label all the time. I have one such a prescription myself, (not Covid related). So why not now? I do not have official documentation, but I suspect it’s because the healthcare organizations as a whole have forbidden it due to their funding from the federal government and the protocols they are required to follow. I have tried to advocate for my patients who are admitted to the Covid unit, and I am told by the hospitalists that “it is not protocol.” End of story. I strongly feel that it is not the infection that kills patients, it is the protocols at the hospital that kill the patients.

In nursing school, we are taught to be critical thinkers. We are taught to follow best practices. We are taught to research, to ask questions, to advocate for our patients. None of that is allowed anymore. If we do not blindly and automatically accept (and promote!) the CDC’s guidelines as the gospel truth, we are heretics.  I was recently reprimanded, and given my final warning from my employer because I spoke truth to a patient (who asked) that I felt the vaccines were unsafe and that I was unvaccinated. For trying to educate and share my well researched clinical perspective, I was reprimanded for being “unprofessional” and for “spreading misinformation.” I have had Covid, and therefore have natural antibodies. Yet, our leadership refuses to acknowledge THAT science. I also told patients who came in for Covid testing last year to take vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc to boost their immune system. I was also reprimanded for that behavior because it was not printed on letterhead from my employer, yet my employer does not produce any such patient education to promote health, only posters, letters to patients’ homes, and Facebook posts that promote shots.  

Our hospitals are full, not from Covid patients, but from increasing numbers of all the normal things. Additionally our hospital stays full because we are unable to place people in rehab facilities that need additional time before they can go home. These facilities are not accepting new admissions at the pre-Covid rate as they also have staffing issues.  Last week, we needed to discharge 22 patients, but we could not find beds for them at rehab facilities so they stayed at the hospital over the weekend, thereby giving the impression that we are “full” which is then reported on local and state news as well as public health reporting systems. However, it does not represent the actual situation. As of today, my hospital has two Covid patients that are in a dedicated unit outside of the main hospital, meaning they do not take beds away from our normal ICU count. But the media will never report that.

For these reasons and more, many medical professionals are disillusioned. We are frustrated, we are disheartened, and we feel helpless to intervene on behalf of our patients for fear of retribution. And now we are forced with the loss of our livelihoods, the very careers that we have built over the years and dedicated our lives to. We have had to jump through countless hoops in the attempt to get some kind of medical, religious, or philosophical exemption. Many people have had their applications denied. Those that have been approved still will be facing weekly testing. Personally, I have submitted a religious exemption and have not been notified of my employer’s decision. However, even if I do get an exemption, I will not submit to weekly PCR tests which I believe are discriminatory (as we now know that everyone can catch and transmit infection, regardless of vaccination status), enormously inaccurate, and potentially dangerous in and of themselves. I highly doubt that my employer will allow me to work if I refuse to submit to weekly testing, so in all likelihood, that leaves me without a job in the very near future. We have been told that if we have not received our first shot by October 25, disciplinary actions will begin, up to and including termination. 

I took a look at our current openings right now at the hospital system where I work here in Wisconsin. There are 284 open RN positions, 246 clinical support staff, 102 non-clinical support staff, 96 medical assistants, as well as a number of other miscellaneous positions. These are openings that exist right now, before the mandate deadline has passed. I know of at least four nurses in my department that will walk before they take the shot. In my department that is HALF of the dayshift. If the rest of Wisconsin and the country is anything like our hospital system, we will be facing a catastrophe of tragic, incredible, and completely avoidable proportions. We were short-staffed today when I worked, and I listened with frustration and despair as call lights went off for 5 to 10 minutes before being answered. I shudder to imagine what a hospital floor could look like with sicker patients and half the number of staff to take care of them. More mistakes will happen, and those that still work will burn out from the high stress.  Almost daily, I receive a text begging me to work an extra shift, which includes incentive pay of an extra $40 per hour. I would not imagine that this is sustainable for any hospital budget. What happens then? Do those costs keep getting passed down to patients – costs that are already extremely exorbitant?

Senator Johnson, I implore you to make this issue among your top priorities in the immediate future. There needs to be a reversal of any policy that ties Medicare and Medicaid funding (or any hospital payments at all) to vaccine mandates for medical workers (including nursing homes) as well as any funding that requires hospitals to use specific CDC protocols for treatment.  Doctors must be free to use their clinical judgment to make the best decisions for their patients, and not be handcuffed to some bureaucratic algorithm that is ineffective at best, and murderous at worst.

Also, if there is anything that you can do to fight back against all the censorship that is happening on social media, it would be greatly appreciated. People like me that are trying to speak out and share information are either being blocked, banned, or buried. We are being mocked and bullied and disparaged. Where is our true freedom of speech? So many of our liberties are being trampled. If we don’t stand up now, we may never have the chance to do so again. 

If there is anything I can do additionally to assist in this fight for bodily autonomy and medical freedom of choice, please do not hesitate to reach out. 

With respect and sincere appreciation for all you are doing,