14-Year News Anchor Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine: I Lost My Job, But 'Preserved My Integrity'
President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate has been stalled as the Labor Department tries to figure out a way to make it workable. In the meantime, Biden is doing his part by pressuring private companies to force their employees to get COVID-19 vaccines — no matter what their reason is for hesitancy.
“I’ve spoken with Scott Kirby, the CEO of United Airlines, who’s here today. United went from 59 percent of their employees to 99 percent of their employees in less than two months after implementing the requirement. Ninety-nine percent,” Biden said at a speech in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, on Thursday, according to a White House transcript.
“In the last days of their implementation, they cut the remaining number of employees left to get vaccinated in half. They went from 67,000 United employees to 66 — of 67,000, 66,800 complied. People chose to get vaccinated,” he continued. “That’s why we’re seeing more companies signing up.”
Biden got in a chuckle: “Even — this I always get a kick out of — Fox News. Fox News requires vaccinations for all employees. Give me a break. Fox News.”
Hilarious. Great stuff. I mean, unless you lose your job over it.
My guess is that Joe Biden isn’t laughing so much at the case of Meggan Gray, a news anchor on WLOX-TV in Biloxi, Mississippi. The station is owned by Gray Television, which mandated its employees take the COVID vaccine by Oct. 1. She made the decision not to — and, on Sept. 30, she bid farewell to the people she’d served for 14 years as co-host of “Good Morning Mississippi.”
According to the U.K. Daily Mail, Gray said she wanted “to take a moment and let you know that I honestly do not know what the future holds for me as far as my career here at WLOX.”
“And I just felt that I owed it to you … to take a moment while I had an opportunity to say thank you for allowing me into your homes for the past several years,” she said, choking up.
“I’ve had a wonderful, 18-year career here, and I’m very grateful for every moment of it. Thank you so much.”
In a Facebook post, Gray said her immunity from a previous bout with COVID and other “powerful reasons” helped her reach her decision.
“Before I go any further, let me make it clear – I’m not here to spark debate over the vaccine. I respect an individual’s decision to get vaccinated. I believe one of the greatest things about being an American is enjoying certain rights, including those pertaining to personal health decisions,” she wrote in the post.
“Before GrayTV mandated this vaccination policy, I made an informed and prayerful decision not to get the vaccine, mostly because I had already survived a case of COVID-19. (There are other, more powerful reasons that led to my personal decision.) I know there will be people who disagree with me or do not understand my reasons. That is fully understood because that is a protected right they enjoy. Moreover, it is a personal decision for each American; but in my opinion, a forced decision to decide between a vaccination and the livelihood of an individual is a dangerous precedent.”
She added her “decision was difficult because I knew it would impact me and my family. My choices were either I follow the mandate and get vaccinated, or I lose my career at WLOX.”
“Please know, I tried everything possible to keep my job, including offering to be tested on a weekly basis,” she wrote. “My requests were denied.”
“It hurts saying goodbye; it hurts parting on these terms. However, I know in my heart it is the right decision for me and my family,” she closed. “I may have lost my job, but I preserved my integrity.”
But c’mon! Fox News, amirite? Ha ha ha. Guffaw. Who would have known victory over bodily autonomy could be so sweet?
This was the inevitable reality of vaccine mandates.
Instead of cowing those wascally “science-deniers” who had questions about the vaccine or who thought their natural immunity from a previous COVID infection was just as efficacious, if not more (an idea they got from, um, science), they stood by their principles. Were they right? I may be fully vaccinated, but I’m not judging them. What I know is they had the right to believe what they were doing with their body was right, even if it wasn’t prudent.
It’s not just one lone woman, either. Far from throwing up their hands and giving up the ghost, Reuters reported United Airlines pilots were in court last week, still fighting the policy.
As for the folks at Fox News, they may be vaxxed — but assumedly, some of them went along just because hammering Biden and his administration for their inept COVID leadership is more important than going to court and fighting the mandate.
Is this what Joe Biden is getting a kick out of? The rest of us are considerably less amused.
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