For many COVID-19 vaccine opponents, no jab means no job
LOS ANGELES — For eight years, Mike Miller has patrolled the grounds of the Snake River Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in east Oregon. His $74,000 salary has paid for his home across the state line in Boise, Idaho, and allowed his family to home-school their three kids.
But next week, he'll face his bosses at a "pre-dismissal hearing" for violating the terms of his job. Miller expects to be fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
"The vaccines probably do work for a lot of people," said Miller, 38, a self-described born-again Christian who rejects the shots because cell lines derived from fetuses aborted decades ago were used in their development. "Our religious convictions tell us that abortion is wrong. We cannot use these vaccines."
He added: "It would be easier to just get a shot. But I cannot stand for them forcing me."
Even as the nation approaches the third year of the pandemic — with the Omicron variant breaking infection records and a growing death toll of
