WILLMAR — More than 150 people attended a “medical freedom” rally Thursday in Willmar to protest employers’ requiring employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Carris Health announced in August that it and its parent CentraCare would require all employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 15. According to the announcement, a process would be offered to employees for medical or religious exemption.
Other employers have announced vaccine requirements, too.
The Minnesota Medical Association board of trustees on Wednesday urged all Minnesota health care organizations to adopt COVID-19 vaccine requirements. According to the association, other Minnesota health systems that have mandated the vaccine include Allina Health, Children’s Minnesota, Essentia Health, HealthPartners, Hennepin Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, M Health Fairview and Sanford Health.
In the late afternoon and early evening Thursday in Willmar, a crowd stood in a vacant lot at the intersection of First Street South and Willmar Avenue in a steady rain. They held signs and waved to people driving through the busy intersection.
Some drivers honked, waved from their vehicles or revved their engines.
Organizer Bailie Henrickson said the rain was likely to interfere with planned speakers. Rather than speaking, Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar, circulated through the crowd to listen to people’s concerns.
Baker said he wants to help employees and employers communicate about mandates.
In the past month, he has received dozens of emails from people who tell him they just aren’t ready to get the vaccine yet.
Baker, a business owner in the hospitality industry, said he is not against vaccination and has encouraged his employees to get vaccinated.
However, he thinks employers need to give workers more time. “A few months is not enough time,” he said.
In his discussions with employers, he said, he’s asked them to wait and possibly offer employees more options, like testing.
Large employers have told him they are under competing pressures, with some employees wanting a mandate and others protesting.
“They are trying to do the right thing,” he said. “They don’t want to lose a single employee, they care about these employees a lot.”
Some at the rally were Carris employees and others were opposed to vaccine mandates in general.
Howard and Karen Carlson of Willmar were standing under a tent to stay out of the rain. “We’re here because we feel people should have the right to choose,” Karen Carlson said.
Kelly Shimek, a registered nurse who has worked at Carris Health — Rice Memorial Hospital for 40 years, said, "I feel if people want to have the vaccine, that they should be allowed to make their choice,” she said. “It’s more about freedom than about the vaccine.”
In interviews before the rally, organizer Bailie Henrickson and nurse Joy Wohlin-Oman both said they are not anti-vaccine or anti-masking. They object to being required to get a vaccine.
For Henrickson, who is a home care nurse and does not work at a Carris facility, the rally is designed to “open the eyes of others,” she said.
“I’m not trying to start fights,” she said. “I want us all to come together and agree to disagree that we can choose what to do with our bodies.”
Henrickson, 30, said she questions the speed of the development of the vaccine and the research behind it.
Wohlin-Oman agreed.
“I’m not telling anybody not to get it; I’m saying we should have the right to choose,” she said. She is a nurse at Rice Hospital.
In a statement this week, Carris said, "We respect the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and express their opinions in public settings."
The health care provider said of the mandate, "We did not come to this decision lightly and understand the decision has been welcomed enthusiastically by many and less so by some. We believe that the decision to require vaccination best serves the collective good of our staff and community. The science shows us that no other strategy has proven to be more effective in fighting this virus."
Wohlin-Oman said she has gotten other vaccines but is concerned with the newness of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Give me five years of study on this,” she said. “Show me the long-term effects.”
Wohlin-Oman said she would like an alternative to being vaccinated — possibly signing a waiver to get tested weekly and wear a mask.
See related story on development of the COVID-19 vaccine.
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