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Waitress fired for not getting Covid jab over pregnancy fears

She says she fully supports people being inoculated, but wants to wait for more research on the vaccine’s possible effects on fertility.

Staff Writers
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The vaccines currently available haven’t been tested on pregnant women, but also haven’t been shown to affect pregnancy and are viewed as generally safe. Photo: AP
The vaccines currently available haven’t been tested on pregnant women, but also haven’t been shown to affect pregnancy and are viewed as generally safe. Photo: AP

A New York City waitress says she was fired from a popular restaurant after choosing not to get the Covid-19 vaccine for fear it might hurt her chances of getting pregnant, reports the New York Post.

Bonnie Jacobson, 34, who has been married since October 2019, stressed that she’s not an anti-vaxxer and fully supports people being inoculated, but said she wants to wait for more research on the coronavirus vaccine’s possible effects on fertility.

The vaccines currently available haven’t been tested on pregnant women, but also haven’t been shown to affect pregnancy and are viewed as generally safe.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that getting vaccinated is “a personal choice for people who are pregnant”.

Staff at Jacobson’s restaurant became eligible for the shot earlier this month. Shortly after, management said the vaccine would be “mandatory” for all employees. The only exception to that policy would be “if your own personal health or disability prohibits you from obtaining this vaccination”.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in December that companies could require workers to get vaccinated against Covid-19, but employment lawyers said they hadn’t heard of a case like Jacobson’s before.

“This particular subject is a really hot topic right now,” employment attorney Felicia Ennis told the station, adding, “I haven’t heard of a company taking that extreme of a step.”

Meanwhile, a former Detroit news anchor who worked at the country’s first black-owned television station died on Tuesday, a day after receiving the Covid-19 jab.

CBS Detroit reported that Karen Hudson-Samuels, 68, a producer and news director was found dead in her home by her husband. Her cause of death is not yet known.

Her husband said, “We suspect it may have been a stroke, but the normal side effects of the vaccine may have masked that.”