Doña Ana County employee sues over COVID-19 vaccine mandate (New Mexico)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | March1, 2021 | ABQJournal News Staff

[CedarDave]

LAS CRUCES – A Doña Ana County Detention Center officer facing termination for declining a COVID-19 vaccination is suing county manager Fernando Macias and detention center officials over the mandate.

The complaint stems from a directive Macias issued in January requiring that county-employed first responders, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and detention center officers receive a vaccine against the novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the disease.

Detention officer Isaac Legareta claims in a federal complaint that mandating employees take vaccines that are not yet fully approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration violates the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Federal law requires disclosures to individuals about an unapproved product, including risks and benefits with “the option to accept or refuse administration of the product, of the consequences, if any, of refusing administration of the product, and of the alternatives to the product that are available, and of their benefits and risks.”

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices stated last summer in public session that vaccines under emergency use authorizations may not be mandated.

In his memo, Macias wrote that, unless employees were granted an accommodation, “being vaccinated is a requirement and a condition of ongoing employment with the County due to the significant health and safety risks posed by contracting or spreading COVID-19.”

A personnel memo dated Feb. 17 attached to the complaint orders Legareta to submit proof that he has received a shot or registered on the state’s COVID-19 vaccine registry within five days.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction against termination by the county, or reinstatement if he is fired before a ruling. He is barred from seeking monetary damages for any retaliatory discharge under state law.

[CedarDave]

From the article:

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s advisory committee on immunization practices stated last summer in public session that vaccines under emergency use authorizations may not be mandated.

It would seem Legareta has a good case especially if he is fired.

[CedarDave]

Link to the story in the Daily Mail:

First US lawsuit filed over mandatory COVID vaccinations: New Mexico detention center worker SUES his employer after being told he'd be fired for refusing inoculation

[CedarDave]

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[wjcsux]

Dona Ana County is really quite a mixed bag. The SE part of the county is somewhat conservative, the area around Las Cruces is pretty liberal.

[pigsmith]

bfl

[algore]

Common Sense

I know there are a lot of people whose preferred pronouns are guinea and pig, you can count me out

[AZJeep]

The Covid vaccine literature, clearly states that there is NO approved vaccine. They are on emergency approval only. The vaccines are not fully tested and they are not accepting responsibility.
As such, People should be given an option. I cannot see anybody being forced to take it at this stage!

[blueplum]

EEOC vs CDC

True, you cannot mandate an ‘emergency use’ vaccine. Also true, if first-responders aren’t mandated, there is no reason to prioritize their vaccinations over any one else.

This individual is a first-responder who deals with the public at large. Which creates a liability issue against that facility should it fail to “maintain a safe workspace’. How would a jurist feel if this were a nursing home worker? or a ICU nurse? or a neonatal unit tech? Probably not the same as a grocery clerk.

True also: In this case the responsibility to the many may override the claimed privilege of the one to carry on restriction free.

I don’t see a problem with reasonable accommodation that limits public contact. Mandate bi-weekly testing at employee expense. And transfer that individual to a limited contact position, like the evidence closet, especially until the rest of the employees are fully vaccinated. If he wants to be a cultural hero, he can be one counting manila envelopes.

Document in their file that it’s the opinion of the agency that the behavior is reckless towards the health of those he is in contact with as a first-responder, and the employee has been counseled on the same. And, have employee sign a waiver that indemnifies the employer from ‘failure to maintain a safe workplace’ should the employee be sued, or should the employee get sick and die, and his relatives pop up claiming payout because that employer didn’t do enough to coerce their deceased relative.

We pay first responders more, because we expect more from them. It’s not unreasonable to expect them to be vaccinated after being schooled they are more ‘essential’ in society than our elderly and infirm.

[LibertyOh]

While I volunteered for the vaccine as part of a study last September, and recently learned I did receive the vaccine and not the placebo, I wholeheartedly agree it should be an option and not mandated at this stage. I’m grateful we have that option, and the freedom to choose.

Any employee will win this kind of case - until the vaccine is fully approved. Even the military does not require the shot yet - if they could they would. Just letting people choose and doing their best to make the vaccine available to any willing to take it.

[SecAmndmt]

If he just keeps up his vitamin D, vitamin C, zinc and other nutrient levels, he’s likely to have a better immune system than the pro-vax retards (often themselves with self-induced co-morbidities) who want to nanny-state his immune system.

It may be that lawsuits are what is needed to restore the rights of employees to own and operate their own immune systems. The whole argument hinges on whether asymptomatic people can make others sick...which most can’t.

[blueplum]

** operate their own immune systems**
the burden is on the employee to come up with a adequate argument that the accommodations the employer makes aren’t reasonable.

**The whole argument hinges on whether asymptomatic people can make others sick.**

Asymptomatic is not a permanent state. Asymptomatic doesn’t imply immunity. A more correct way to look at it is, can an asymptomatic get sick tomorrow and can an asymptomatic transmit disease? Why, yes, yes they can.

” about one in five infected people will experience no symptoms, and they will transmit the virus to significantly fewer people than someone with symptoms...
Byambasuren’s review also found that asymptomatic individuals were 42% less likely to transmit the virus than symptomatic people.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03141-3

(for those in Rio Linda the above means that 58% were AS likely to transmit the virus.)

The CDC still has asymptomatic transmission up on their website - at 50%:

“asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness... are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions.1,2”
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/masking-science-sars-cov2.html

back to Vit C/Zinc - that’s something to make your own informed decision about. Personally, I like B12 (stress) and D3(sunshine) in normal, daily amounts and a lion’s portion of winter citrus. According to a recent study we shouldn’t expect medicine-cabinet miracles:

“There was no significant difference in the primary outcome of days required to reach a 50% reduction in symptoms among the 4 study groups... both the number of hospitalizations and deaths did not significantly vary among the 4 treatment groups. “ (214 patients followed)

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776305?utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_term=021221

[SecAmndmt]

“the burden is on the employee to come up with a adequate argument that the accommodations the employer makes aren’t reasonable.”

The employee’s salary does not contemplate a 24/7/52 permanent change to the employee’s immune function as a condition of employment. The employer can no more commandeer my basic immunity than they can dictate my choice or diet, home or spouse. If they want to insist on facemasks for now, fine. Those can be removed at end of day. When the “pandemic” is over, the masks go.

The modern medical system, which has participated in death by medical neglect of half a million Americans, gets to have NO say in how this plays out. If they jad used early therapies and FLCCC protocols we would not even be talking pandemic, epidemic or serious outbreak.

[blueplum]

What do you mean by’early therapies’ for a ‘novel’ virus?

Trump announced the first tests on Mar 6, with ivermectin trials starting Mar 15, and Trump promoting trials of HCQ on April 7, while also suggesting UVC lighting for disinfecting. By August the 1st over 400 drugs being trialed along with Monoclonal antibodies as 60million were tested with 10% positive and the US became a world leader in ventilator and PPE availability. The FDA rejected HCQ, ivermectin trials continued, better tests were developed, vaccines entered phase 2 and 3. Dexamethasone was found to be harmful if given early but great if given late. Tocilizumab saved lives if given with 24 hours of ICU admission. Baricitinib and colchicine were also found to be useful. Trials continued. Trump received black box use of Regeneron Oct 2, after he and the Mrs. tested positive. HCQ, ivermectin, the aforementioned 400 drugs and more, plus vaccines and experimental use of Regeneron was a result of Trump’s Operation Warp Speed. A month later, vaccines were on line and standard of care treatments were refined to reflect the latest research.

Now all this took 9 months. I’m not sure how you can say there was ‘medical neglect’ with a straight face unless you’re talking governors seeding care homes with infected.

Here at 12 months, we have about 9 vaccines worldwide, 3 active and 2 more in trials in the US, plus UK’s Oxford vaccine. It’s historic. It’s remarkable. I look around the world and I’m still seeing us as ‘at’ early. Even early, early. How early depends on how fast we can vaccinate 80% of the heavily affected world and/or find a magic pill to pop at first symptoms to keep one out of the hospital, so we can put a lid on mutations, open up the world economy and go back to controlling isolated outbreaks instead of a wildfire.

here’s the NIH study on ivermectin, completed Oct 2020, about six months after the trial began. Ivermectin in humans as a prophylactic hasn’t been studied :
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33065103/

[SecAmndmt]

Here is the FLCCC protocol
https://covid19criticalcare.com/i-mask-prophylaxis-treatment-protocol/i-mask-protocol-translations/

Here is Dr Pierre Kory MD’s discussion of the MATH+ hospital protocol, starting about minute 48:

https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/covid-19-how-new-information-should-drive-policy

The FLCCC team continues to look at data, but they have been using the MATH+ protocol with over 95% success even for serious cases.

Speaking of the Houston area, with the exception of the hospital using the MATH+ protocol, the others are doing very little in terms of therapeutics. I know this from an inside source working in the ICU at one hospital in the chain, and another in the same chain in a different part of the city. Yes, medical neglect and refusal to use the therapeutics available despite the family of one patient begging the attending physician to offer treatment. The same physician then pressuring the family to move the patient they have killed through neglect into comfort care, else they won’t allow family to visit. Despicable, vile, arrogant, egotistical are good words to describe the nature of most of the medical personnel involved.