‘If I get fired, so be it’: the Louisiana nurses refusing to get the Covid vaccine

A minority of staff reject the shots, citing personal liberty, conspiracy theories and a lack of long-term studies

Louisiana's largest hospital systems are requiring their employees to be fully vaccinated, but a minority of nursing staff say they are still considering leaving their jobs instead of getting the jab, citing concerns over personal liberty, lack of long-term studies, and discredited conspiracy theories.

The fourth Covid-19 wave has hit Louisiana hard, with the delta variant causing a surge in new cases that outpaced any of the waves that came before it. The speed with which delta just took over the landscape, I don't think we quite anticipated that," said Dr Jennifer Avegno, director of the New Orleans health department and an ER doctor.