Protesters gather in Puyallup, Bellingham to speak out against vaccine mandate

A crowd estimated to be in the hundreds gathered at a Puyallup intersection Wednesday to protest the state mandate that health care workers get a COVID-19 vaccine by Oct. 18, or lose their job.

Among the hundreds waving signs was Kyle Tautfest. He works as a security guard at Western State Psychiatric Hospital and expects to lose his job in October.

Bellingham nurse prepared to lose her job to stand up for constitutional rights

“They don’t have enough staff to handle the violent assaults out there and they’re going to try to fire us,” Tautfest said. “But a lot of people who don’t agree with it are going to quit, or they’re going to be fired with no unemployment.”

Also on Wednesday, about 300 people were gathered for a rally outside of Peace Health St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham.

Besides Peace Health staff, locals came out to the rally to show their support for health care workers. They said the mandate violates workers’ rights — and some called it an especially bad idea during a health worker shortage.

“We need doctors and nurses — we don’t need less of them,” said Frank, a Bellingham resident. “Especially if they’re going to be fired for … something they choose not to do — that’s truly insane.”

Protesters argued that no one should be forced to choose between losing their job and having to take a vaccine.

“I don’t think that it should be required to put anything in your body,” added Chad, another Bellingham protester. “It shouldn’t be a requirement to eat an apple to work at any given job.”

One Washington State Department of Transportation worker from Skagit County, who would not give his name for fear of losing his job, had no connection to Peace Health, but he raced up to Bellingham as soon as he heard about the rally because he identifies with the nurses’ message. As a state worker, he is facing the same mandate.

“We have until October 18th to be fully vaccinated or lose our jobs,” he said.

When asked what he planned to do, he responded immediately: “Fight.”

“I have no intention of getting vaccinated, no. It violates my Constitutional right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be told or mandated to inject myself with anything.”

Peace Health stated that it aligns with Governor Inslee, the American Medical Association, the American Nurses Association, and other prominent groups in finding it necessary for all caregivers who are medically able to get the shot.

“With hundreds of millions of doses delivered in the U.S. and many months of real-world evidence to draw from, the vaccines have proved safe and effective,” the hospital stated, adding, “We support the right of individuals to express opinions in an unofficial capacity outside of work. Our priority remains the safety of our caregivers and those we serve.”

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The FDA has given emergency use authorization to the coronavirus vaccines.

As of Aug. 10, the Washington State Department of Health reports that 70.7% of the eligible population in the state had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

KIRO Radio reporter Nicole Jennings contributed to this story.