Month: September 2021

What You Should Know about the New Federal Covid 19 Vaccine Mandate

nancyvalko Covid 19, education, law, vaccines

In my December 17, 2020 blog “Should a Covid 19 Vaccine be Mandatory?“, I wrote that “it seems unlikely that there will be a federal mandate for the Covid 19 vaccine.”

But on September 9, 2021 and in a televised speech, President Joe Biden announced a federal Covid 19 vaccination mandate affecting as many as 100 million Americans “in an all-out effort to increase COVID-19 vaccinations and curb the surging delta variant.”

Calling Covid 19 “a pandemic of the unvaccinated” and that “our patience is wearing thin” with the estimated 80 million Americans who have not been vaccinated, President Biden announced new rules that:

“mandate that all employers with more than 100 workers require them to be vaccinated or test for the virus weekly, affecting about 80 million Americans. And the roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be fully vaccinated.”

and signed

“an executive order to require vaccination for employees of the executive branch and contractors who do business with the federal government — with no option to test out. That covers several million more workers.”

However, it turns out that some groups of people are not required to get the Covid 19 vaccine, including the US Congress and people illegally crossing our southern border.

Even worse and back in an August, 2021, an NBC News article titled “18 percent of migrant families leaving Border Patrol custody tested positive for Covid” stated that:

“More than 18 percent of migrant families and 20 percent of unaccompanied minors who recently crossed the U.S. border tested positive for Covid on leaving Border Patrol custody over the past two to three weeks, according to a document prepared this week for a Thursday briefing with President Joe Biden. (Emphasis added)

MORE POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WITH THE COVID 19 VACCINE MANDATE

Some hospitals are now telling healthcare workers to get vaccinated or lose their jobs. And in New York, there are now worries that a vaccine mandate “will exacerbate staffing shortages dogging medical facilities.”

And although some U.S. businesses welcome President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for firms with 100 or more employees, some small businesses are bristling, saying that the order “imposes yet another burden that could intensify historic worker shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks.“

Already, legal challenges are looming for the covid 19 vaccine mandate.

WHY VACCINE HESITATION OR REFUSAL?

From the start of the Covid 19 pandemic, the rules seemed to keep changing: first gloves and no mask, then lockdown, mask and social distancing. Different states had different rules about opening and closing businesses and schools.

It was frustrating when the scientific data behind the changing rules was often lacking or contradictory. And some people are concerned about some of the reported rare side effects of the vaccines as well.

However, experts say that few people are medically exempt from getting the Covid 19 vaccine.

Now, there is an emphasis on providing booster Covid 19 vaccines for the fully vaccinated. However, it is concerning to now read in the Business Insider that “18 leading scientists, including 2 outgoing FDA officials, say COVID-19 booster shots lack evidence and shouldn’t yet be given to the general public”.

CONCLUSION

My husband and I received our Covid 19 vaccinations in March without any problems and recommended the vaccinations to our children with the caveat that they check with their doctors first, especially since some of our children and grandchildren have special situations.

We are open to receiving the Covid 19 vaccine booster shot but we would like to see more scientific data and hopefully a consensus among the experts.

The Powerful Effect of the US Supreme Court’s Decision Refusing to Block the Texas Heartbeat Act

nancyvalko abortion, law, medical ethics, pro-life

When the Texas Heartbeat Act was signed into law by Governor Gregg Abbot in May 2021 to abolish elective abortions as early as six weeks (when the unborn child’s heartbeat is “detectable using methods according to standard medical practice”), abortion rights supporters were furious and began challenges to the law.

But on September 2, 2021 and surprisingly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against a request from pro-abortion groups to temporarily block enforcement of the pro-life law.

Pro-abortion groups and almost all mainstream media vigorously denounced the decision and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, Whole Woman’s Health, and other abortion groups were ready to mount more legal challenges to the law.

Most recently, now a Texas Judge has issued a temporary restraining order barring Texas Right to Life and “100 unnamed individuals” from suing Planned Parenthood, writing that the Texas Law creates a “probable, irreparable and imminent injury” to Planned Parenthood if sued by the nonprofit Texas Right to Life and others.

At the same time, pro-life advocates continue to reach out to pregnant women offering resources and emotional support to help them and their babies while Texas lawmakers had already budgeted in the spring for $100 million specifically to help pregnant and parenting mothers and babies

But while even the Wall Street Journal raised legal questions about enforcement of the law by civilians and the exclusion of rape or incest exceptions, the Supreme Court’s decision to refuse to block the Texas Heartbeat Act (and the torrent of national publicity surrounding the decision) forces a recognition of the the humanity of the unborn baby and the fact that even the Mayo Clinic recognizes: the heart begins to beat at 6 weeks.

Unfortunately, many people are unaware of this fact and Planned Parenthood continues to deny this fact.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH ROE V. WADE

I was a young nurse working in a critical care unit in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, legalized abortion for any reason in the first trimester of pregnancy.

When other doctors and nurses asked my opinion about the decision, I said I was surprised and horrified. Some of the nurses and doctors angrily disagreed with me and asked what I would do if I were raped and pregnant.

I said I would be upset about the rape but also that I couldn’t deliberately end another human life, born or unborn. That was medical ethics.

A few years after the Roe v Wade decision, I was married and pregnant with my first child. I loved the standard prenatal development pamphlet I was given but I couldn’t help but think about how painful this pamphlet could be for a woman who had aborted before becoming pregnant with a wanted child.

I decided that when I finally had some time, I would volunteer at our local Birthright to help women and their babies.

With my subsequent pregnancies, my older children were obsessed with the development of their unborn brother or sister and asked what the baby had or could do almost every week of the pregnancy. It was touching to see how excited they got with each new phase of the baby’s development.

When one of my daughters became pregnant and unwed at age 18, she said she could never have an abortion because she knew so much about prenatal development.

Recently, I was delighted to view the “Meet Baby Olivia” video, a beautiful and “medically accurate, animated glimpse of human life from the moment of fertilization” produced by Live Action. I highly recommend this video and sharing it widely.

CONCLUSION

Until Texas, other state heartbeat laws have been blocked in court. The Texas Heartbeat Act is facing more legal challenges but it has already changed minds and hearts in Texas: An April poll by the University of Texas-Austin found that 49 percent of Texans support making abortions illegal after six weeks of pregnancy, while 41 percent oppose it.

Education about abortion and outreach to help women struggling with an unexpected pregnancy can save lives!