Nurse Sarah O’Hara Receives Religious Exemption for Vaccination

A recent story on KGVO and the KGVO website profiled the plight of Community Medical Center nurse Sarah O’Hara, who refused to be vaccinated against COVID 19, and planned to seek a religious exemption from the CMS nationwide mandate.

On Sunday, surrounded by well over a hundred supporters holding signs on the sidewalk in front of Lowe’s Home Improvement Center, O’Hara told KGVO news that her exemption had been upheld by the hospital administration.

“I do actually know exactly where I stand with my job,” said O’Hara. “And they did inform me that I got accepted for my religious exemption. But I do know of a few respiratory therapists and nurses that have gotten theirs denied at the hospital at St. Pat's (Providence St. Patrick Hospital), and I don't have any idea why they would be denied.”

O’Hara was heartened by the recent decision by OSHA and the Biden Administration to back down on forcing millions of workers to be vaccinated or lose their jobs.

“It seems quite interesting, especially that the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and OSHA came out and said, we're not going to move forward with this,” she said. “So when they stated that it is no longer a law that is in place that people need to be mandated to take a vaccine, why are these hospitals going forward? And isn’t that part of our 10th amendment rights within the Constitution?”

O’Hara looked around at the many people who came out to support her decision and expressed her gratitude to the various groups and individuals who turned out.

“I'm definitely feeling 100% grateful,” she said.  “I think that the turnout is way more than I even anticipated and I'm just I'm really blessed to know that there are this many people willing to stand up for our freedoms, our God-given freedoms”

O’Hara had a message for all who read this story or hear her words on KGVO and other Townsquare Media stations.

“Just to pay attention to the laws of the land, the state government supersedes any kind of federal institution,” she said. “And so we need to really be backing the people in our states; our governors and our senators that represent us, that they would be able to stand up for us against these lawless people. And that's really my hope for this country. Because if we are the ones that fall at this point in time, the world is looking to us as Americans to overcome this injustice.”

Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services mandated that all healthcare workers at hospitals, clinics and other institutions that receive payment for services from Medicare and Medicaid, be fully vaccinated or lose funding, which would effectively drive that healthcare institution to bankruptcy.

There was a broad mix of ages protesting with O'Hara on Sunday, many holding signs, with one man sprinting up and down the sidewalk holding an American Flag, while cars honked and drivers waved their approval. There was also one family at the protest with a very large dog who was aptly named 'Trump'.