Last year's heroes, this year's scapegoats: Frontline workers livelihoods at stake over vaccine mandates

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Essential workers were heralded last year as heroes as they continued in-person work while the coronavirus spread across the nation. Now, those same workers are facing terminations and resignations due to vaccine mandates implemented by the government and private organizations. 

“We worked hard,” Indiana nurse Sheila Burleson told Fox News, referring to healthcare workers who continued caring for patients during the pandemic. “I came home and cried, fell to my knees and cried … I had five people die in one day.” 

Now, she is out of a job after not complying with a vaccine mandate at Eskenazi Health in Indianapolis, and she’s no longer “even proud to wear” the “frontline heroes” shirts that were popular last year. 

“They don’t understand the stuff that we’ve gone through. Or they don’t care,” she said about hospital officials who mandated that all employees get vaccinated. 

Burleson is not alone. 

“We were celebrated last year,” fellow Indiana nurse Adara Allen told Fox News. “But a few nurses did end up leaving due to [the hospital] not accepting their medical issues or having a reaction or adverse effect to the first dose of the covid vaccine.”

Allen previously worked at Eskenazi Health but was told to no longer come into work due to her refusing the vaccine. She is pregnant, and though the CDC recommends the vaccine for pregnant women, her pregnancy is considered high-risk. Allen previously suffered a miscarriage and has issues with blood clots. 

Indiana nurse Adara Allen, who was denied a medical exemption from her former hospital’s vaccine mandate. 
(Adara Allen)

“If I lost another baby and I didn’t know what it was from, I couldn’t forgive myself,” Allen told WTHR last week after the vaccine mandate took effect at the hospital. Allen applied for a medical exemption due to her pregnancy but was denied by the hospital. 

Healthcare workers, firefighters and police officers are resigning or facing termination across the country for refusing to comply with vaccine mandates, and some are even taking to the streets to protest. And while frontline heroes of 2020 navigate their employment futures, a dire staffing shortage is on the horizon for various industries in 2021. 

WINCHESTER, VA – AUGUST 10: Striking healthcare workers and relatives of healthcare workers pray during a protest on August 10, 2021 in Winchester, VA. Healthcare workers have gone on strike over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate by their employer Valley Health. (Photo by Duncan Slade for the Washington Post)

Dozens of Massachusetts state troopers are putting in their resignations this month, following Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s executive order requiring all executive department employees to show proof of vaccination on or before Oct. 17. 

The resignations could harm the safety of Massachusetts citizens, as well as the troopers who remain on the force. 

“Massachusetts has a homicide solve-and-conviction rate of over 85%. It’s a model for the country,” State Police Association of Massachusetts spokesman Chris Keohan told Fox News. 

But now, with state police already facing staffing shortages and looking at resignations piling up, Keohan said, “those numbers are going to take a hit” if they reassign troopers to cope with the shortages. 

Lawsuits surrounding the mandates have also mounted, including from the Massachusetts State Police Association, which attempted to delay the vaccine mandate. But a judge denied the suit. 

Firefighters who also worked through the pandemic are facing similar instances of vaccine mandates. And some are willing to risk their careers to defy the orders. 

“I’ve been in emergency service for 28 years making decisions that impact people’s lives every day,” Aurora, Oregon, fire chief Josh Williams told “Fox News Primetime” earlier this month after filing a lawsuit against Oregon over the mandates. 

“This is not about science. This is about power,” he added. “And the people have had enough. And I’m not going to put up with it anymore.”

Meanwhile, protests have been organized outside of hospitals in recent weeks, with staffers holding signs reading, “We are still essential,” “Say no to vaccines and yes to freedom of choice,” “Healthcare heroes demand medical freedom,” and “Don’t fire last year’s heroes.”

Smithtown, N.Y.: A sign held by a healthcare worker reads "Last Year’s Heroes, This Year’s Unemployed" at a protest at St. Catherine of Siena Hospital in Smithtown, New York, on Sept. 27, 2021. (Photo by Raychel Brightman/Newsday RM via Getty Images)
(Raychel Brightman/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

In New York – a state where healthcare workers faced grueling shifts as hospitals racked up patients at the height of the pandemic – last year’s heroes are already out of their jobs. 

“I’m assuming I am no longer employed. It’s my understanding that there is no notice or letter going out,” Deborah Conrad, a physician’s assistant in western New York told the Intelligencer. 

“A lot of people I work with felt forced into getting vaccinated. But I’m not changing my mind. I’m not better off than any of them, I just feel very strongly,” she added. 

The state’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers took effect Monday. Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded who can work in the health industry to cope with the staffing shortages, and said she may call on medically trained National Guard members to also fill the vacant roles. 

The out-of-work healthcare workers are now trying to nail down other job opportunities. One nurse in New York who was granted a religious exemption from the mandate, for now, says she’s looking at moving to Florida – where the Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has said vaccine mandates are “not about science,” but “government power.”   

“I’m not ready to not be a nurse anymore and this would basically eliminate me from being a nurse in the entire state,” nurse Jillian Dobrzenski told the Intelligencer this week. “We would probably be okay on savings for at least a handful of months. After that, I already have an RN license to work in the state of Florida and it looks more and more each day like we’ll probably end up selling our house and moving.”

As the heroes of last year struggle with the mandates, President Biden and local leaders across the nation have kept on message that vaccines are of the utmost importance and a matter of life and death. 

“One thing is for sure: A quarter of the country cannot go unvaccinated and us not have a problem,” Biden said Monday, when he received a booster shot.

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