A surgical technologist in Georgia was fired after she compared her employer’s vaccinate mandate to the Holocaust.
Jessica Renzi, a surgical technologist with the Wellstar Healthcare System posted a video to TikTok of a hand-drawn tattoo showing a vaccine lot number resembling the numbers given to prisoners in concentration camps during the Holocaust, WSB-TV reports.
The video went viral before it was deleted along with Renzi’s other social media accounts.
“Jessica Renzi is no longer an employee of Wellstar Health System,” the hospital said in a statement. “At Wellstar, we stand strongly against anti-Semitism as well as comments or behavior of any kind that do not serve our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are dedicated to fostering an environment where all team members treat others with compassion and respect. Wellstar remains steadfast in our mission to enhance the health and wellbeing of every person we serve.”
The Anti-Defamation League also put out a statement condemning Renzi’s actions.
“The use of Nazi and Holocaust analogies is deeply offensive, even traumatizing, especially to the families of those who perished and lost loved ones in World War II. For Jewish families, Holocaust analogies trigger fear around one of the darkest, most antisemitic times in recent history, and these present day analogies come at a time of heightened antisemitism in the US felt very clearly by American Jews. Especially as the world deals with fear around the fragility of the pandemic, invoking Holocaust analogies only functions to further distrust and anxiety, not bring us together forward.”
All employees of Wellstar Healthcare System are required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1.
