Soon, I will be fired. I am an experienced (25 years) and reliable employee in a field (critical care nursing) where there is a national shortage. In fact my employer (Kootenai Health) is paying top dollar (far above what I earn) to bring in "travel nurses" from out of state just to keep up with the staffing shortage. This summer I have been paid double time to work extra shifts. And yet soon they will not allow me to work for them. There is a day coming when I will show up at my place of employment, and I will be told to leave the premises. What transgression will bring about the termination of my career? Will I be caught pilfering company assets? Will an uncontrollable temper finally irritate my boss enough to get rid of me? No, the perplexing and absurd answer is that my job with Kootenai Health will end because I refuse to have a flu vaccination.

Responding in a televised 1960 debate to a question asked of him, Martin Luther King replied, "One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." In our community we now have an example of this axiom being played out in the private sector in Kootenai Health's mandate that all employees receive the flu vaccination or else have their employment terminated. My objection to the vaccine is not only based on rational evidence, but more importantly on moral and ethical considerations.

Kootenai Health claims to operate their facilities serving our communities using evidence-based medicine fully supported by scientific research. But is this the case when it comes to the flu vaccine? Here the evidence does not appear to support Kootenai Health's mandate. A position paper presented by our federal government's Center for Disease Control (CDC) entitled "Healthcare Workers Must Be Vaccinated Against Influenza" cited no studies. This was written by Dr. Eric Kosowski of the CDC's influenza division. The paper was directed at healthcare professionals. To cite no studies in a position paper usually means there are none. The gold standard for evidence-based decision making in health care comes from t he Cochran Collaboration. Look them up on the internet. In their paper titled "Vaccines to Prevent influenza in Healthy Adults" the Cochran Group concluded, "In average conditions 100 people need to be vaccinated to avoid one set of influenza symptoms. Vaccine use did not affect the number of people hospitalized or working days lost ... Fifteen of the 36 trials were funded by vaccine companies ..." There, I was able to cite a study and it was not difficult to find. Does Kootenai Health have compelling evidence for a mandate? I think not. Where is Kootenai Health getting their information for their mandate? On page 1 of their vaccination policy dated 06/27/14 they cite a CDC recommendation. I've lived and worked in North Idaho since 1971. I cannot remember the last time I trusted a department of our federal government to tell the truth, especially when the recommendation is based on economics rather than science. Watch anything on television. Notice what a high percentage of commercials are financed by the pharmaceutical industry. That means money. Lots of it. In 1993, 32 million doses of influenza vaccine were available on an annual basis. Today, that total has climbed to 125 million doses.

In December of 2009, the World Health Organization reported, "Corruption in the pharmaceutical sector occurs at all stages of the medicinal chain, from research and development to dispensing and promotion." In 2008 Merck was fined $650 million under the False Claims act. In 2009 Pfizer was assessed a $1 billion criminal fine, along with a $1.3 billion civil fine, etc., etc ., and so forth. David Lewis, PhD, former senior-level microbiologist with the EPA's Office of Research & development reflects, "No one would be surprised if Merck published unreliable data supporting the safety of its products. Why would anyone be surprised that the CDC is publishing skewed data to conclude that the vaccines it recommends are safe?" What reason would I have, and for that matter what reason would you have to trust an industry that regularly engages in criminal behavior, and is in collaboration with our corrupt and increasingly evil federal government? I find none. The apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, "For the love of money is the root of all evil."

For we all know that it' s all about money. Kootenai Health states that their motivation for mandating the flu vaccine is, "providing a safe environment for our patients, staff and visitors." But my observation is that most employees understand that this vaccine is being mandated for the sole purpose of receiving government money for a certain percentage employee compliance. This, on a vaccine that had only a 9% effective rate in the 65+ age group during the 2012-2013 flu season (as reported by the CDA Press). I have refused the flu vaccination for each of my 25 years of employment at Kootenai Health. I will continue to do so this year. When I was young, I served my country and so I can claim to be a Marine Corps combat veteran of the Viet Nam conflict. I don't know what my motive was. I was young. I am now a senior citizen, and instead of fighting for my country I find that my battle is now against an intrusive central government that wants to control every aspect of my life. One way they do this is with the threat of withholding federal money (in this case medicare dollars) if you don't do things their way. And the hospital l officials go along with it because they need the money. They need the money more than they do faithful employees. They need the money so badly that they attempt to coerce employees with the threat of losing their jobs into doing something that they believe is wrong to do. What a shame. Kootenai Health has regrettably become, as Bob Dylan once lamented, "only a pawn in their game."

In this life God has blessed me in many ways; among them living in North Idaho, exceptionally good health, and good places of employment. In my work as an RN, I have been able to serve my community; but I have received back much more from my work environment than I have given. It will be sad to lose that. But I will not give in to an ill-advised mandate to put something into my body that it does not need and, according to research, may result in severe illness (as acknowledged by Kootenai Health in their mandate). Kootenai Health may respond that life is a matter of choices. They may say that they have made the decision to mandate vaccinations for employees; and that employee 00953 has made the choice to refuse. That is true. Historically, choices are made. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer with painful insight made this statement (from prison) when looking back on what had happened in Nazi Germany, "First they came for the communists, but I was not a communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the socialists and the trade unionists but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no

one left to speak out for me." You may ask, "What in the world does that quote have to do with flu

vaccinations?" But is it not abundantly clear that a mandated flu vaccination is neither the beginning nor the end of government imposition on our lives? And so I am making the choice to say "No" to a nonsensical mandate influenced by non- scientific papers produced by an agency of an out-of-control federal government bent on control, and not directed by eternal truths.

In the 1970's Christian philosopher Francis Schaeffer, commenting on the state of the Christian world wrote, "History indicates that at a certain point of economic breakdown people cease being concerned with individual liberties and are ready to accept regimentation. The danger is obviously even greater when the two main values so many people have are personal peace and affluence." In this Schaeffer is simply echoing what King Solomon wrote 3000 years ago, " ... the complacency (or prosperity) of fools shall destroy them." Now what do those quotes have to do with the flu vaccination? Maybe nothing.

And maybe this letter is really not about flu vaccinations.

Kootenai Health needs to rethink this mandate. And maybe the ones who need to be looking for a new job are those who pushed for its implementation.