Dozens of South Florida doctors gathered early Monday to beg people to get a COVID-19 shot, citing their exhaustion and frustration with the flood of unvaccinated patients in their care.
via: Complex
In a segment on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, reporter Kerry Sanders pointed to figures of 85% of ICU beds in Florida being full, with some hospitals reporting no ICU space at all. The entire 75 -person physician staff of the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center took part in the walk-out, where they urged citizens to get vaccinated, The Palm Beach Post reports. It marked the second time in a week that doctors in northern Palm Beach County spoke out.
FACT CHECK: South Florida has a very high vaccination rate & hospitals do have the capacity to treat patients. These doctors went outside for a few minutes this morning, NOT to “go on strike” — but to urge people to get vaccinated to avoid hospitalization. https://t.co/xFPWwmfMmC
— Christina Pushaw ? ?? (@ChristinaPushaw) August 23, 2021
“It’s incredibly frustrating,” Dr. J.T. Snarski, who was present at the gathering, told MSNBC. “Because we know vaccines are safe and effective. And it’s people who go out and talk against them that really go against physicians and medicine and science. And it’s not the message we want to get across to people. Vaccines are safe and we need to get our communities vaccinated.”
While right-leaning social media users, like Tomi Lahren, are now saying that “if you refuse to treat people because they don’t live their lives the way you want them to, you shouldn’t be a freaking doctor,” others have claimed that the event wasn’t a walk-out but rather an attempt to urge vaccinations.
Doctors in south Florida walk out to protest treating unvaccinated patients.
If you refuse to treat people because they don’t live their lives the way you want them to, you shouldn’t be a freaking doctor!!!
— Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) August 23, 2021
“If you identify with one of these doctors up here, we’ve cared for your family and you’ve listened to us then, the time really is now [to get vaccinated],” said Dr. Jennifer Buczyner, a neurologist and one of the event’s organizers.
Florida is currently leading the nation in daily average cases and hospitalizations, according to the New York Times. To date, there have 3,040,590 reported COVID cases in Florida, with 42,252 deaths. ????
Hopefully the news of the FDA approving the Pzifer vaccine will instill more confidence among those reluctant to get vaccinated.
