“This is totalitarianism. I’ve come out and said, ‘No, you’re not going to do that, not on my watch’… I’m willing to give my life to this cause.”
These words prove just how divided America is.
They belong to Doctor Rake, an anesthesiologist at the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) hospital. A video of him being escorted by security guards out of the hospital because he is unvaccinated against Covid-19 went viral last week.
California has mandated that all healthcare workers must be vaccinated, otherwise, they will lose their jobs. The cut-off was October 1 and Dr. Rake was later that day sent an email stating that, from October 4, he would be placed on unpaid administrative leave.
The doctor, who has been qualified for 16 years and worked at UCLA for 11 years, treated it as a normal working day. “Next thing I know the chair of my department showed up with two security guys, and they walked me out of the building,” he tells me. “You probably couldn’t tell from the video, but I was some of the most nervous I’ve ever been in my whole life, my legs were shaking. I was going down the stairs and I could hardly keep my legs underneath me. I was so in shock, a place I love and a job I’ve committed my life to, they are just walking me out for being unvaccinated.”