A group of people protested outside of Mercy Hospital South in St. Louis claiming that the hospital has fired employees who were denied religious exemptions for receiving required vaccinations. The protest was organized by Nelia Aubuchon, who is friends with a nurse at the hospital who recently lost her job after she refused to get a flu shot.
Aubuchon said that her friend had worked at the hospital for five years and never had her request to opt out of the flu shot denied. That all changed last year when the hospital, which was formerly called St. Anthony’s Medical Center, was bought out by Mercy.
"It's about Mercy's denial of ALL religious and medical exemptions for their employees and their draconian measure of terminating those who will not give in to their policy," Aubuchon said in a Facebook post. "Mercy Hospital denied ALL doctor and religious leader signed exemption paperwork."
The hospital issued a statement to KSDK saying that their policy to require employees to get the flu shot is meant to "save lives, especially those of our most vulnerable patients."
Mercy is concerned for the health and wellness of our co-workers, patients, families and the communities we serve. Because we are focused on health and safety, Mercy revised our flu vaccination policy several years ago and requires annual flu immunizations by all Mercy co-workers as a condition of employment. There are exceptions for valid medical or religious reasons. The point of our flu vaccination policy is simple: protection against the flu virus saves lives, especially those of our most vulnerable patients. In health care, we must adopt national best practices for those we serve.
A spokeswoman for the hospital also explained that most of the 170 exemptions on medical or religious grounds were granted.