The Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation in North Carolina has joined the ranks of companies implementing vaccine mandates for its employers.
In September, the company said in a press release that âcertain employees and contractorsâ must get the COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 30 or be terminated.
âSince when does a company built on sugar get to dictate the health care decisions of its employees?â John Richardson, an information technology employee with Krispy Kreme, told The Epoch Times.
âKrispy Kreme is only doing this with the corporate employees,â Richardson said. âThey arenât making any of the shop employees get vaccinated.â
There are 363 shops in the United States.
In a letter to CEO Mike Tattersfield, Richardson said the company isnât requiring shop employees to get vaccinated because âpeople would leave.â
âFor you to say this is for the health of the workers is such total and utter bologna, and the scary thing is Krispy Kreme probably already knows that,â Richardson said. âIf this was about the health of your workers, then the ones you should care most about are the ones who are on the frontlines in the shops interacting with the public. Why didnât you include them?â
If it were to mandate vaccines for shop employees, the company would lose money, Richardson said.
âIf the mandate is not good for everyone, then why is it good for anyone?â Richardson asked. âShame on Krispy Kreme and the leaders that thought this was a good idea and had the power to enact it. It is needlessly jeopardizing the lives of your employees and their families for a virus that is 99 percent survivable by almost all of the population.â
Richardson said Tattersfield has not responded to his request to end the mandate.
âThey Are Going To Have To Fire Meâ
Richardson has chosen not to file for religious or medical exemption because he said he shouldnât have to file for an exemption for a mandate the company doesnât have the right to demand.
âThey are going to have to fire me,â Richardson said, which is unfortunate, he added, because he cares about his job.
âIâve loved Krispy Kreme from an early age,â he said. âMy dad grew up here in Winston-Salem where the company was born. It really is one of those staple companies that we are very proud of.â
Itâs a decision he brought before his family, he said.
âI sat them around and said, âHereâs the deal: I am getting ready to go through a fight,ââ he said. âIâve never before been fired for performance reasons, and for me to lose a job because I wonât put an unknown substance in my arm? Itâs insanity.â
Vaccination Campaign
When vaccinations for the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus became available, Krispy Kreme began a âvaccination campaignâ in March to give free doughnuts to those who had gotten the shot.
By June, the company said it had given 1.5 million doughnuts to the vaccinated.
To celebrate this, the company allowed for all customers to get one free doughnut on what the company called National Doughnut Day, while the vaccinated could get two free doughnuts, according to a company press release.
âMore Risk Than Rewardâ
When the vaccine mandate for corporate employees was formally announced in what the company called its âDoughnut Breakâ meeting in September, Richardson said they were told there would be no provision for testing or natural immunity and no severance pay for those who were terminated for not getting vaccinated.
âKrispy Kreme says it respects all opinions,â Richardson said. âThe company said the decision to take this vaccine is a private endeavor. Now, thatâs totally reversed. Not only are they not respecting people and what their decision is, but they are also forcing this vaccine.â
Thereâs more risk than reward, Richardson said, on taking the vaccine.
âI really did want [the vaccines] to work,â he said. âTheyâre not, though, and itâs so evident for anyone willing to look at the data and not repeat the public health agencyâs âsafe and effectiveâ line without thinking about it.â
Richardson cited the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting Systemâs data that he said shows more people have died from the COVID-19 vaccine than all other vaccines combined over 30 years, while in the first week of October 2021, there were 93 percent more cases and 97 percent more deaths than in the first week of October 2020 when there was no vaccine available, according to data he linked to the World Health Organization.
âHow does this make sense if these vaccines are working?â Richardson asked. âThere is obviously something wrong, and Krispy Kreme is going to be on the wrong side of this when the dust settles.â
Richardson said the mandate doesnât fit with the legacy of Krispy Kreme, and though he proclaims the company makes the best doughnut, âit becomes a lot less sweet when you see the direction they are going in.â
Krispy Kreme didnât respond immediately to questions about its policy.