New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) said at a Sunday mass in the Bronx that Christians who are not vaccinated against COVID “aren’t listening to God,” adding that God wants them vaccinated.
The Democrat notably made the comments one day before her vaccine mandate for health care workers takes effect. The controversial order has already sparked health care worker shortages around the state.
“Yes, I know you’re vaccinated, you’re the smart ones, but you know, there are people out there who aren’t listening to God and what God wants,” Hochul said at a Christian Cultural Center service. “You know, this, you know who they are.”
“I need you to be my apostles, I need you to go out and talk about it and say, we owe this to each other,” the Democrat continued. “We love each other. Jesus taught us to love one another. And how do you show that love, but to care about each other enough to say, please get vaccinated because I love you. I want you to live.”
The jarring comments sparked backlash online. Notably, upstate New York radio host Bob Lonsberry pointedly commented, “So, when God wants to say something about vaccines, he has Democrats speak for him? Who does he go to when he wants to say something about abortion?”
So, when God wants to say something about vaccines, he has Democrats speak for him? Who does he go to when he wants to say something about abortion?
— Bob Lonsberry (@BobLonsberry) September 27, 2021
Hochul is a champion of abortion, which ends innocent human life in the womb.
As noted by News 10 NBC, Hochul announced Saturday that she could “declare a State of Emergency that seeks to increase workforce supply and allow qualified health care professionals licensed in other states or countries, recent graduates, retired and formerly practicing health care professionals to practice in New York State.”
Workers who refuse to get the COVID vaccine, and are therefore fired under Hochul’s dictate, will not be eligible for unemployment insurance, with slim exception.
A judge last week extended a ban on Hochul’s order pertaining to health care workers seeking a religious exemption from the mandate, The Daily Wire reported last week:
The restraining order was pushed back another two weeks; now health care and longterm care employees in the state seeking a religious exemption can remain unvaccinated until at least October 12, and keep their jobs.
“Breaking: federal judge extends the temporary ban on the NYS vaccine mandate for health care industry workers claiming a religious exemption until October 12th,” News 10 NBC reporter Berkeley Brean said Tuesday. “Then the order could turn into a preliminary injunction.”
In an accompanying video, Brean explained that if the order turns into a preliminary injunction, those seeking a religious exemption to the vaccine in NY will be allowed the exemption for as long as the case pends.
A group of health care workers represented by the Thomas More Society sued the state arguing their Constitutional rights were violated when the state issued a vaccination mandate barring religious exemptions.
The Society argued that the mandate “attempts to nullify protections for sincere religious beliefs granted under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, even though days earlier the state of New York had afforded protection for religious beliefs in its prior health order.”
Attorney Christopher Ferrara, Thomas More Society Special Counsel, called the move “a brazen power grab by people who think they can get away with anything.”
“What New York is attempting to do is slam shut an escape hatch from an unconstitutional vaccine mandate,” Ferrara argued. “And they are doing this while, knowing that many people have sincere religious objections to vaccines that were tested, developed, or produced with cell lines derived from aborted children.”
“These plaintiffs are not – I repeat – not anti-vaxxers, as the fake news media calls them,” Ferrara stressed. “They are in fact in favor of voluntary vaccination with informed consent, but they oppose jack-booted coercion by the state to take a vaccine their religion forbids them to take. This is America, not Red China.”
WATCH:
NY Governor Kathy Hochul goes on unhinged religious rant, says “The vaccine is from God” and “I need you to be my Apostles”: pic.twitter.com/mdc1sPMfB2
— Dr. Benjamin Braddock (@GraduatedBen) September 27, 2021
Related: Judge Extends Ban On NY Order Mandating Medical Workers Be Vaccinated Or Lose Their Job