11/02/2021
Fired Piedmont ER doc explains why he refused vaccine mandate.
But last week, Redwood says he was fired from working in both hospital systems for failing to follow vaccine mandates for all healthcare employees.
The letter sent to him by Piedmont Healthcare said "you have not been vaccinated or approved for any exemption from the policy" before explaining he was being terminated.
"We’re being denied that opportunity to do what we’ve been doing all along because we’re not willing to get this vaccine," Redwood told the FOX 5 I-Team while sitting on the back patio of his Tyrone home.
For his personal health status Dr. Redwood believes the risk of serious side effects outweigh the potential benefits of the vaccine. Most experts agree the vaccine side effects are minimal. Millions of Amercians have been vaccinated.
Piedmont, Wellstar, and Emory Healthcare all have vaccine mandates. None has disclosed how many employees lost their jobs for ignoring the policy.
It’s a confusing contradiction. Why would a doctor take such a position in a pandemic?
After all, Redwood has seen his own share of COVID patients pour through the Piedmont ER. He agreed COVID is far more dangerous than the flu and says hospitals are not inflating the numbers to make the disease seem worse than it really is, contrary to the belief of some skeptics.
Redwood said he’s been vaccinated against hepatitis and has always followed the flu vaccine requirements for his job.
But in the past, Redwood has publicly cautioned the use of certain vaccines because of what he believes are troubling side effects.
He also testified before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention when it sought public comment for the flu vaccine, arguing the government’s work would be better spent urging people to stay home if they felt sick.
Redwood said almost every COVID patient he’s had to admit is unvaccinated.
"I’m not here to say that I’m against vaccines," he stressed. "OK? That’s one thing I want to make perfectly clear. What I’m saying is if the intention of the vaccine mandate is to prevent transmission of disease from a healthcare worker to the patient population, then the vaccines aren’t going to achieve that."
Redwood points to the fact that even vaccinated people can still spread the virus, although they are not as contagious for as long as someone unvaccinated and infected.
He believes mandates may have a better argument in long-term care settings where workers and patients are in close quarters for longer periods of time.
He said he is always masked up and protected like other hospital staff.
"I think the hospital should be doing the same thing they were doing when this pandemic first started which is to support anybody willing to risk their life to come in and provide care for patients needing help," Redwood argued.
Redwood believes he’s far less likely to get seriously ill from COVID because he has no comorbidities like most of the patients he’s seen, those with hypertension, diabetes, or obesity.
He also says he wears a mask outside the house to places like grocery stores and restaurants — although not always — doesn’t shake hands or get too close to others.
"When I’m in the hospital, I wear a mask in front of every patient I encounter the entire time I’m in the hospital," he said.
Does he disclose his unvaccinated status to his patients?
"That’s not something I share," he said. "If they want to know, they’re free to ask. A lot of patients I see you’ve got to remember are coming in because they haven’t been vaccinated."
Just like him.
And in his mind, the risk of any possible unknown side effects from the COVID shot outweighs any proven benefit, especially now that the vaccines require boosters.
