A meteorologist was fired from his TV station after 33 years at the job because he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine
- Karl Bohnak, a meteorologist who spent 33 years at NBC affiliate WLUC, has been fired.
- He said the television station fired him because he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
- "I have authority over my body," Bohnak wrote in a Facebook post announcing his termination.
A meteorologist who spent more than 30 years working at a Michigan TV station has been fired after he refused to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Earlier this week, Karl Bohnak in a Facebook post said NBC affiliate WLUC terminated his employment after his 33-year tenure there.
"I am leaving TV6 because the station's corporate owner, Gray Television, has mandated vaccination against COVID-19 for anyone entering a property owned by the company," Bohnak, a vaccine skeptic, wrote. "Since I chose not to take one of the shots, I was fired."
"Many of you have taken one of these injections, and that is absolutely your right. It is also my right to choose the medical options I feel are right for me," he continued. "I have authority over my body."
Gray Television, a publicly traded broadcasting company based in Atlanta, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Earlier this month, the Biden administration said all employers with over 100 employees must require workers get the COVID-19 vaccine or submit to weekly testing. Some businesses and Republicans have lashed out at the rule as an overstep, while executives and CEOs, including the Business Roundtable, have welcomed the move.
Health officials have for months urged that the public get vaccinated against the coronavirus. So far, more than 55% of the total US population is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
There is, however, a group of skeptics who believe the vaccines are either unsafe or unnecessary. Research shows that the vaccine offers significant protection against the coronavirus. Unvaccinated people, for example, are 11 times likelier to die from COVID-19 compared to vaccinated people. Unvaccinated people are also 29 times likelier to be hospitalized with severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Additionally, COVID-19 outbreaks have been hitting unvaccinated populations especially hard. And the Delta variant has been spreading quickly in states with the lowest vaccination rates.