Approximately 50 people gathered in downtown Barry’s Bay on Saturday, Oct.23 to protest against a mandatory vaccination policy for local healthcare workers. The Current spoke to 15 participants at the demonstration, four of whom agreed to be identified in this report. Above: demonstrators gather along Opeongo Line in Barry’s Bay
One of the organizers, Gudrun Wegner, said, “Some of the people here, their own jobs are on the line. We have some that are vaccinated that are here, but they believe in choice. They don’t believe in it being forced and people shouldn’t be losing their jobs over it. And there are others here – they believe that this tyranny has gone on too long.” Wegner said the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were not FDA approved, saying “They can’t be approved until two years after the second dose which is 2023 – so up until that point in 2023 this remains an experimental drug.”
Another organizer, George Dienesch (Above, with sign) said, “It’s a terrible injustice to all these nurses and other medical personnel and healthcare aides that they’re being forced to take the vaccination instead of what they’ve been doing up till now…. I think have the right to choose whether or not they want to take that vaccine. They shouldn’t be able to be forced to take an untested vaccine. It’s very much about the right to choose.”
One woman at the protest who refused to be identified said, “I’m a retired nurse. I support the right to choose what goes into your body and I believe the vaccine is dangerous.” A man who also did not wish to be named said, “Everybody has a right to work and not be forced to do something in this way. That’s why I’m here.” His wife agreed, saying it was an experimental vaccine and “a third of people getting covid right now are vaccinated.”
A group of four people on the MAD Outdoors corner stressed that they are not anti-vaxxers, saying they were there to protest the policy of St. Francis Memorial Hospital and Valley Manor. One of them said, “This is all about policy. It’s really about the government policy is saying that staff at hospitals and facilities can take the antigen test, and the hospital here has decided ‘No we’re not going to do that. You’re fired.’”
In response to the hospital policy issue, SFMH CEO Julia Boudreau noted, “From the hospital’s perspective, and in response to the question about antigen testing vs vaccination, the FAQ that was circulated last week speaks to this. In particular, the following responses:
Data from Ontario show that COVID-19 vaccination is effective and, based on that evidence, the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table supports the mandate for all hospital workers to be vaccinated. The data show, for example, that vaccination reduces the risk of catching COVID-19 and the risk of serious illness due to COVID-19. (For more details see https://doi.org/10.47326/ocsat.2021.02.49.1.0)
Also, unvaccinated or partially vaccinated health care workers pose a patient safety risk with the potential to introduce COVID-19 in the hospital setting and/or transmit the virus to vulnerable patients and workers. Mandatory health care worker vaccination will help to stabilize and protect the hospital workforce and ensure fewer absences due to illness or self-isolation, so that hospital operations and patient care are not disrupted. Consistent provincial policy covering all hospitals will make all hospitals safer for patients and health care workers and reduce the threat of prolonging the pandemic.”
Wegner, who was in touch with the OPP prior to the event, ensured that protesters did not block the sidewalk. Although some commenters on social media said 150 people attended the demonstration, The Current observed only about a third of that number.
Monica I completely empathize with your situation and can totally understand your anxieties but these experimental gene therapies are highly objectionable on many counts. Some people object to the ‘vaccine’ due to the fact that Pfizer and Moderna used aborted fetal cells in their testing and J&J and Astra Zeneca used aborted fetal cells in the testing and production phase. People have God given conscience rights to never cooperate in any way with these abortion tainted ‘vaccines’. Others object due to the fact that around the world there are hundreds of thousands of adverse reactions and thousands of deaths. Sadly the mainstream media will never tell these stories. One should ask ‘Why?” Go to the Center for Disease Control on the VAERS site ( Adverse Effects Reactions), which they admit is only reporting a mere1% of the cases. As of now, in the U.S there are over 800,000 adverse reactions, from strokes, heart attacks, blood clots, paralysis and many neurological affects, and over 17,000 deaths ( with, remember, a 1% reporting ). So can you now perhaps understand why people are concerned?
These nurses and ‘we the people’ have the right to decide what drug they put into their body or what medical procedure they allow to be done to them. The Nuremburg Code was drawn up after World War II, as people were experimented on mercilessly and the world’s nations ( including Canada )signed on to that Code so that this would never happen again. You want those who object to taking a drug that has proven to have devastating side affects, to take it so that you can feel safe? Are we not also allowed the right to take our health and safety into our own hands? Yes, absolutely yes.
These nurses worked when nobody dared to work and were called heroes! And now, because they rightly have the freedom to decide whether to take this ineffective ( yes, ineffective….or else they wouldn’t be pushing boosters!) shot, they, and all those who do not want the jab are treated as lepers and thrown to the side, unable to feed their families. It might be the firefighters, ambulance drivers, police, teachers nurses and staff who lose their jobs today, but just wait, tomorrow it will be everyone, including you who loses their freedoms, if we do not stand together in unity against this tyranny. What is all under the guise of health and safety is really about control and loss of freedoms taken from us by a small group of world elites who think they have the answers to our future.
My husband is in renal failure. He has only one kidney functioning at 11%. He is awaiting a kidney transplant.
We have both been vaccinated. We have taken great care to ensure against breakthrough infection ie. using grocery pickup rather than in-store shopping, drug store delivery and the like. He has had to provide proof of vaccination status to the Ontario Transplant Program by November 1st to ensure that he was not removed from the transplant list.
Why should health care workers refusing vaccines place him at great risk? This is not about freedom. It’s about public health and the greater good. Your freedom ends when it puts another person’s life at risk.
Interesting that after almost 7 billion doses have been administered worldwide people are still saying the vaccine is “untested” and “experimental”.
I’m not surprised that there were social media inflated numbers of 150 or more instead of the observed 50, you have to believe in the science of counting. After all the front page press, hacked websites promoting the event, social media calls to protest and good weather for the event they drew only 50 people .