The University of Kansas Healthcare enacted a vaccine mandate for all employees, volunteers, students, temporary workers and contractors. This mandate of an emergency use vaccine for staff members is an erosion of our civil rights and liberties. Taking away the choice and decision making skill of citizens and medical professionals is unconstitutional. We are petitioning for the right to work and keep our rights and livelihood intact. Healthcare shortage is a critical global crisis and loosing more staff to this mandate is catastrophic to patient care unnecessarily. 

We would like to petition for the right to choose and end the required mandate at KU Hospital. We opt for no coercion, threats, shaming, bullying or retaliation for making our own medical decisions about our bodies and what goes into them. 

We would also like to ask for more transparency and visibility of the VAERS reporting at the hospital. The selective application of chosen research does not reflect accordingly. Daily reports should also include number of patients vaccinated and unvaccinated along with severity of illness. We would like to hear more about the treatments being used both early on and later on in this virus as well at the hospital. As a leading hospital for the state we would like to know what research and cutting edge treatments KU is using to lead the way.

Religious accommodations is not an answer to this problem. Those of us who wish to not get the vaccine should not be subject to termination regardless of religious beliefs or lack thereof. Furthermore, those granted a religious or medial accommodation should not be subject to weekly COVID testing. As this is invasive, punitive and proven to be unreliable. These tests are discriminatory as evidenced by the fact that those vaccinated and unvaccinated alike are capable of spreading and contracting this virus. 

We ask that you advocate for your staff to be given the choice of whether or not they want an experimental vaccine and multiple doses of these EUA vaccines.  

You have the choice to show your staff you support them more than reimbursements and that your staff matter to you. We urge you to make the right decision and advocate for all of us that advocate for our patients every day here at KU and want to continue doing so.