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A last Friday deadline for Los Alamos National Lab employees to get vaccinated has come and gone, with a judge on the same day denying a request by 114 employees there to block the nuclear lab’s vaccine mandate from taking effect.

In the last days the employees, including top nuclear engineers and scientists, have literally taken to the streets outside the lab, protesting the mandate which orders them to get their first dose of the Covid vaccine or face termination.

Concerning the lawsuit filed by the employees, The Hill wrote earlier that "Workers at the New Mexico laboratory, which created the atomic bomb, filed a lawsuit claiming that exemptions to the mandate have been denied without proper justification." ...

Importantly, it appears the bulk of those who face termination are not low-level staffers or new hires, but in many cases scientists and nuclear engineers who have worked at one of America's most sensitive and advanced defense facilities for decades.


Protesters outside the Los Alamos lab facility on Monday. Source: Los Alamos Reporter
The Associated Press had detailed that "The plaintiffs include scientists, nuclear engineers, project managers, research technicians and others who have some of the highest security clearances in the nation for the work they do."

Further the report underscored they would be "difficult to replace" in the short term. "Some of the employees who are part of the lawsuit have worked for Los Alamos lab for decades, while others are newer hires who have relocated to New Mexico from other states and countries," the report added. "Thirty-four of them are named in the lawsuit and 80 have opted to remain anonymous, citing fears of retaliation."