New jersey's frontline healthcare workers deserve more than a memorial and a pat on the back
Tired nurse, exhausted from working long shifts during the pandemic takes a break.

New Jersey’s frontline healthcare workers deserve more than a memorial and a pat on the back

NEWARK, NJ – When COVID-19 was new and unknown, most of America locked themselves inside their homes for months. Businesses were shut down. Schools were closed. Life essentially stopped dead in its tracks for an entire nation.

That is unless you worked as a nurse, doctor, or any other frontline job in the emergency healthcare industry. For nearly a year, these workers went face to face with the deadly COVID-19 vaccine, many being lost to the virus they were fighting.

They showed up day in and day out, knowing that they will be working closely with COVID-19 positive patients and that they could bring the deadly disease home to their families, but they kept coming. They endured and cared for our state’s most sick and desperate victims of the pandemic.

They weren’t protected. There was no vaccine. All they had were the gloves on their hands and the masks on their faces to protect themselves against the deadly virus, but they went home each night knowing that New Jersey and America appreciated them. They were honored as frontline heroes.

Fast-forward one year and now many of them, who endured two years of the pandemic, staring COVID-19 in the eye day to day are being treated as villains. They’re being forced out of their jobs at all levels. Governor Phil Murphy who once praised them, now looks down at them with scorn because some are choosing to waive their decision to get vaccinated.

Many of them have had COVID-19 themselves…some twice. They have natural immunity and if they are making their own personal medical decision, for whatever reason, which doesn’t matter, to not get the vaccine.

In a state where natural immunity to a virus, a medically sound principle, has absolutely no value or worth in the eyes of their employers and the state government.

Sure, they might get a memorial. There’s a bill circulating in Trenton that calls for a COVID-19 Frontline Healthcare Worker Memorial, but it’s nothing but political lip service by a Democrat party who looks upon the unvaccinated frontline workers with disgust, contempt and scorn.

Under Phil Murphy’s latest mandate, based on a recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing governors like Murphy to enact vaccine mandates for healthcare workers, they now face losing their jobs. Many already have.

A memorial doesn’t put food on the table, nor does it pay the bills. Phil Murphy is still operating under 2020 COVID-19 rules. The COVID-19 vaccine has been ineffective in stopping the spread of the latest omicron variant. Boosters have also been ineffective. While those shots help lessen the severity of the virus infection, the mandate to force a vaccine is no longer based on science.

The vaccine mandate was created to mitigate the spread of the virus from one person to another. Now since they have been proven to be unable to do that, vaccination should be a personal choice. We can surely recommend everyone gets a vaccine, but nobody should ever be forced, in America to inject themselves with medicine that has only been in existence for less than two years.

Nobody should lose their job on the false notion that their vaccination status has any impact on any other person. This was true until the omicron variant came through and walked right through vaccines and boosters. If anyone knows the risks of getting COVID-19 it’s the frontline workers who handled the deadly virus since day one, not the Governor of New Jersey who was shocked and confused when his own wife caught the virus upon their return from Costa Rica in December. Masked up, fully vaccinated, and boosted, Murphy was dumbfounded when COVID-19 struck his own home because the COVID-19 virus is for anti-vaxxers and Republicans, not the progressive elite.

New Jersey is showing hypocrisy as it moves to build a memorial to front-line workers while the Democrat Party and Governor Phil Murphy are seeking to terminate those who don’t comply with their often questionable science.

Phil Stilton

Phil Stilton is the Editor and Publisher of Shore News Network, an independent digital newsroom providing original reporting on New Jersey, national news, government, public policy, public safety, courts, and community affairs.

As founder of the publication, Stilton leads editorial strategy, investigative reporting, and daily newsroom operations while overseeing coverage that reaches millions of readers annually.

With extensive experience covering municipal government, county government, state legislatures, elections, law enforcement, emergency management, and public records, Stilton specializes in translating complex government actions into clear, factual reporting. His work frequently relies on primary source documents, including court filings, legislation, public meeting records, election finance disclosures, government databases, police reports, and Freedom of Information and Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests. He has reported extensively on local government accountability, taxpayer spending, campaign finance, public corruption investigations, infrastructure, public safety, and the policies affecting New Jersey residents.

Under Stilton's editorial leadership, Shore News Network has grown into one of New Jersey's largest independent digital news organizations, publishing thousands of original news articles each year while providing breaking news coverage, investigative reporting, and analysis across state and local government. The publication's reporting is routinely sourced from official government agencies, public officials, court records, and firsthand documentation, with a commitment to transparency, attribution, corrections when warranted, and clearly distinguishing factual reporting from opinion.

Stilton's journalism follows established newsroom standards emphasizing accuracy, verification, fairness, and accountability. Every effort is made to verify information through official records and multiple reliable sources before publication. His reporting is intended to provide readers with timely, well-documented information that helps them understand the issues affecting their communities, while maintaining editorial independence from political parties, government agencies, advocacy organizations, and commercial interests.

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