California-based healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente has begun denying some of its employees' requests for religious exemptions to its COVID vaccine mandate, claiming that the exemption is being misused to avoid getting the jab. On Monday, Kaiser released a statement responding to a viral dismissal video featuring one of its California nurses being escorted out of the healthcare facility after she demanded to know why her request for religious exemption was denied.
"I am being escorted out of Kaiser Permanente Hospital for my religious beliefs because I don't want to get the jab," an unnamed nurse who worked at the company's Kearny Mesa hospital explained in a video that went viral, as reported by The Blaze.
"I asked all day for someone to explain to me why my sincerely held religious beliefs are not good enough for Kaiser. And no one was able to do that for me."
The nurse continued that she was being escorted out because she wanted an answer as to why her request was denied. She added that some other medical staff were standing in solidarity with her.
The California-based nurse warned, "I just want all of you to count the costs. I want you to watch this and think, what really matters to me? Because I am willing to lose my safety and security, my house, everything, for my freedom."
The Kaiser nurse explained that she was placed on unpaid administrative leave, but that the hospital's human resources department did not explain why her religious exemption request was denied.
"All I want to do is work," she said. "Since the beginning-- I've been a COVID nurse since the beginning, when we didn't know what was going on."
As she was being escorted to her car by a security guard, she pointed out how just last year, when the pandemic erupted, nurses and medical frontliners were being hailed as heroes, a stark contrast to the condemnation they are experiencing today.
Kaiser Permanente previously established a September 30 deadline for all of its employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID or, for those who decline, to submit an application for a medical or religious exemption, Fox 5 San Diego reported.
However, Kaiser's chief medical officer Dr. Andrew Bindman said in a statement leading up to the deadline that the company was notified by labor organizations about open discussions on "ways to avoid the vaccine mandate by misusing the legitimate religious exemption process."
Following a company review, Kaiser found that employees had submitted "similar or nearly identical requests" with language from templated online forms, which they reviewed "to ensure their requests reflected their sincerely held beliefs."
Following their review, the company said the religious exemption request was being allegedly misused by some employees, who were then placed on unpaid leave. These employees were given a deadline of December 1 to comply with the hospital system's COVID vaccine mandate.
As of October 30, 93% of Kaiser employees have been vaccinated, but 1% of its entire workforce have yet to respond to the company's vaccine requirement.
As for the nurse in the viral dismissal video, Kaiser said she was told that she was directed to the human resources for concerns about her request instead of her manager or other facility leaderships.
The healthcare system said it would work with her "to address her concerns" and any other employee who was seeking vaccine exemptions for legitimate reasons.
