GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC 26) -- As cases surge, more health care systems and hospitals across the country are requiring their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
And if she chooses not to get the shot, local nurse Hope Coppens fears she'll be out of a job.
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"If we don't get the vaccine, we will be sadly terminated from our career, from our passion that we can't imagine living without," Coppens said.
Over 100 people gathered on the corner of Mason and Webster Street in Green Bay, protesting against vaccine mandates in health care.
"This isn't a anti-vax campaign," Coppens said. "This isn't pro-vaccine, anti-vaccine. It's really just medical freedom and medical autonomy for everybody."
Last week, Advocate Aurora Health and Prevea Health announced it will require employee vaccinations. Protesters like Trisha Paulson have gotten both doses.
"I did get the vaccine," Paulson said. "I am for freedom of choice. We should find out what is in the vaccines what they can do to us. How long are they preventing us?Are they preventing us from getting COVID? How long are they preventing us from doing that?"
And nearly a dozen other health systems mandated vaccines statewide.
"This is gonna continue, people," Paulson said. "It's gonna go everywhere. Every employer is gonna have this problem. We will not be able to have a job or go anywhere."
In a statement Advocate Aurora said "we have been alerted that protests are planned in some of our communities. We respect our team members' rights to peaceful protest…"
Jeanette Deschene works for Advocate Aurora. Though she can get a job somewhere else, she's happy with the role she has.
"We can't just quit our jobs and get another job," she said. "We're licensed, so this is our passion. These are our careers. You don't just get that overnight."
Whether they have the vaccine or not, local healthcare workers say they want what's best for their patients.
"If I lose my job because I stood up for my freedoms, that's what I'll do," Deschene said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, one in four hospital workers who have direct contact with patients had not received a single dose by the end of May.
