At the November 4 County Council meeting, member John Goffredo asked Executive Lamont MvClure if he was still enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandate "in light of the recent New York Supreme Court ruling that upheld a challenge to NYC's vaccine mandate for public sector employees, ruling that the vaccine was not stopping transmission or preventing infection, that it would be able to hire back employees who were either fired or left because of the vaccine mandate. Knowing that that is the news, is there any chance that Northampton County is going to be relaxing their requirements?"
I have to make a few comments about Goffredo's question.
First, although I'm sure his intentions are good, I doubt Goffredo is aware that the New York Supreme Court is actually only a county court of general jurisdiction. It's the equivalent of the county courts in Northampton and Lehigh Counties. While New York's highest court is known as the Court of Appeals.
Second, The New York county court ruling did uphold a challenge by public sector workers to a city vaccine mandate on all public sector workers. Northampton County, in stark contrast, only has a vaccine mandate in place for new hires. There is also a mandate at Gracedale, but that's a federal mandate applying to health care providers and suppliers. That requirement has already been upheld in a per curiam opinion of the United States Supreme Court.
Finally, and most importantly, the New York Court objected to the arbitrary manner in which the mandate was enforced while simultaneously making clear that "vaccination should be encouraged."
Goffredo failed to note that this county court ruling has been appealed.
Executive Lamont McClure told Goffredo that he is guided by the United States Supreme Court. But Goffredo, diving into his inner QAnon persisted. "What is the justification now, knowing that many people here are vaccinated but got COVID and there is no evidence - no science at all - to prove that we are no longer transmitting with the vaccine ... ."
Wow! I was unaware that Goffredo is an infectious diseases expert. The CDC, which actually knows a bit more about that topic than he, has determined that the vaccine is safe and effective. So has The Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins.
Goffredo was trying to make a few cheap political points with the antivax lunatics. Never mind that it is at the expense of our public health. Or the lives of Gracedale residents.
The midterm results should make clear to him that we are sick of the extremists.
10 comments:
Well, you are in fact denying the latest scientific studies that are available on this vaccine and the admission of Pfizer execs that the vaccine does not stop transmission.
Bernie,
Unless there is more to John's quote than what you posted, what exactly did he say that is wrong? Is it not admitted that COVID can be transmitted by the vaccinated, and that being vaccinated doesn't mean you are immune to it? Again, unless there is more to John's quote than what you posted, he is not claiming "magnets" are in the vaccine nor is he claiming that people are dropping dead from the vaccine, he is merely claiming the vaccines do not prevent infection. Even the CDC admits the vaccines "lower risk of severe illness, hospitalization and death from COVID-19 than people who are unvaccinated," but doesn't prevent infection.
America Is tired of QAnon and their co-conspirators. It is not your God given freedom to cause harm others as a result of reckless behavior.
Reminds me of that other T-Party member Seth Vaughn, he didn't understand anything either and was a one term Commissioner.
8:35, It's certainly true that people who have asymptomatic covid can transmit, regardless whether they have the vaccine. It's also true that there are breakthrough cases. Nevertheless, the necessary implication of his statement is that the vaccine is ineffective. The vaccine is both safe and effective. Yes, the immunity wanes just like immunity from the flu wanes or immunity from pneumonia wanes. That is why we have boosters. Goffredo's statement lends credence to the antivaxers.
I’m so fucking tired of people spreading all this misinformation about these vaccines, even after two years of positive medical data.
If republicans would have embraced these vaccines early on, perhaps some of them would still be alive to vote and tilt some election results your way.
You guys are your worst enemies.
I think the connection you are trying to make is tenuous at best. What he said it true, but don't put words in his mouth. I'm speculating that there is frustration that the county is eliminating part of the anemic workforce with a vaccine mandate.
I knew this guy shouldn't have been elected.
Vaccination does not stop the spread of infection. That's a fact. It does reduce symptoms and death. The newest vaccine is out and now getting stats but a different variant is now prevalent. It's a moving target with little factual research on how effective the booster is. What is a shame is almost three years into this we still have little good research. Why don't we know how long the boosters last? Where is that information. Perhaps people would trust if we had more information. Even a local hospital infection disease specialist said to hold off on new vaccine as it was only trialed in mice. Israel studies are showing no difference with boosters. We deserve some good information. That isn't misinformation or disinformation it's good factual information we all deserve. Millions got this vaccine why don't we have stats on who has antibodies and how long can we expect the coverage to last. Some reports say a year. In the beginning it was death or the vaccine. Easy decision. Get the vaccine. Now we deserve some decent research on more than 50 or 500 people to help us make informed educated decisions for ourselves.
The vaccine is not a medical miracle or cure all and I never recall it being described as that. It simply reduces the chance for you to contract or spread the virus.
The reason for a vaccine mandate is NOT political, its economic.
If you are going to hire an employee for any job, you want to make sure he/she is healthy. You don't want to take on any individuals who are a risk of regularly missing days of work, a risk of spreading germs to other employees causing them to miss work and likely doctor and pharmacy visits and in extreme cases, requiring hospitalizations. All of those expenses hit the employer's pocket in lost man hours/productivity and have an impact on their insurance plan.
For all the talk of wasteful government spending, just look at the cost of labor.
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