Anti-vax caller is shocked that health care workers are required to be vaccinated

Most of my work here is free, so sign up for the list and please share posts widely. If you’ve been enjoying The Signorile Report, consider becoming a paid subscriber and supporting independent, ad-free opinion journalism. Thanks!Matt from Houston called in to my SiriusXM show to “push back” at the supposed “celebration” I was having over health care workers being fired in New York because they wouldn’t be vaccinated against Covid-19.In fact, I wasn’t celebrating those who were fired — I was celebrating the thousands who got vaccinated at the last minute last week, when faced with actually losing their jobs as a vaccine mandate deadline arrived. In the end, only a small percentage of people have been fired when vaccine mandates have gone into effect in cities and states across the country, as people realize it’s a requirement for the job.Matt thought it was terrible that people had to “relent to keep their jobs, to make a personal choice about a vaccine.”I explained that this a now a requirement, like many other job requirements for various fields, and they can make a choice to stay in the job or get another job. I told Matt that, with regard to health care workers who refuse a vaccine, it was good to “weed them out,” as they don’t believe in science and are not qualified for the job. That seemed to really irk Matt. “Who are you to judge people on what they are and are not willing to do with their own bodies,” he said, with a flash of anger. “You’ve gone — that’s way too far. That’s ridiculous.”You can do whatever you want with your body, I told him. But I don’t have to hire you if you want to put people in danger by transmitting a communicable disease.Matt then grabbed for boilerplate anti-vax talking points about how vaccinated people can still get infected with Covid — without highlighting the fact that they are relatively rare incidents and those with a breakthrough infection are highly unlikely to get seriously ill and not as transmissible as unvaccinated people. His arguments were pretty feeble, and I think it showed the the anti-vaxxer claims are wearing thin even with the unvaccinated. They’re losing the larger battle, as people are getting vaccinated when it becomes about keeping their jobs. Matt ended the conversation by saying we’ll have to “agree to disagree,” which in this case seemed like a surrender. Listen in and let me know your thoughts.Thanks for reading and following The Signorile Report. Most of it is free to read, but if you’d like to support independent, ad-free opinion journalism (and connect in great discussion threads), please consider becoming a paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.signorile.com/subscribe