Rep. Warren Davidson, R-OH, has issued an apology for a tweet this week that linked Washington, D.C.'s COVID-19 protocols to medical policies enacted in Nazi Germany.

The saga began on Tuesday afternoon when D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted a reminder that D.C. officials would begin enforcing new COVID-19 rules that require people older than 12 to provide proof of vaccination to enter certain businesses.

Davidson, who is staunchly against vaccine mandates, retweeted Bowser's message and added an image of a document from Nazi Germany.

"This has been done before. #DoNotComply," Davidson said in retweeting Bowser.

Davidson's tweet received significant pushback from fellow lawmakers, leaders in the Jewish community and the Auschwitz Memorial, which commemorates the lives lost at one of the most brutal Nazi concentration camps.

"Exploiting of the tragedy of all people who between 1933-45 suffered, were humiliated, tortured & murdered by the totalitarian regime of Nazi Germany in a debate about vaccines & covid limitations in the time of global pandemic is a sad symptom of moral and intellectual decay," the Auschwitz Memorial said in response to Davidson.

On Thursday, Davidson issued an apology, saying that "any reference to how the Nazis...prevents a focus on anything other than Holocaust."

He later clarified that he did not mean to compare vaccine mandates to the Holocaust, but to the ways that Nazis used "public health to dehumanize then segregate."

BATH, Maine —

Josh "Chevy" Chevalier is a third-generation shipbuilder who hasn't missed a day of work during the pandemic in his job as a welder constructing Navy warships on the Maine coast.

But he's ready to walk away from his job because of an impending mandate from President Joe Biden that federal contractors and all U.S. businesses with 100 or more workers be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

"People are fighting for their constitutional rights — the way they think their life should be," said Chevalier, one of hundreds of employees at Bath Iron Works threatening to leave.

Related video above: Dozens of workers against vaccine mandate rally outside 3M plant.

Chevalier is among a small but significant number of American workers deciding whether to quit their jobs and careers in defiance of what they consider intrusive edicts that affect their freedoms.

The Biden administration, public health officials and many business leaders agree that vaccine requirements are legal, prudent actions necessary to help the world emerge from a pandemic that has killed more than 700,000 Americans and nearly 5 million people worldwide.

The defiant workers make up a small fraction of the overall workforce, with many cities, states and businesses reporting that more than 9 out of 10 of their workers are complying with mandates.

But they have the potential to create disruptions in a tight labor market and have become the latest roadblock in overcoming the vaccine hesitancy that allowed the COVID-19 crisis to take a devastating turn over the summer. In many cases, the reasons for the objections are rooted in misinformation.

The refusers come from all types of occupations — defense industry workers, police officers, firefighters, educators and health care workers. In Seattle, a group of city firefighters turned in their boots at City Hall on Tuesday to protest a vaccination requirement.

Thousands of people have sought religious or medical exemptions that were rejected; others won’t stand to be told what to do and have quit or been fired.

Nick Rolovich, the football coach at Washington State University, was let go from his $3.2 million-a-year job on Monday, along with four assistants. Rolovich, the first major college coach to lose his job over vaccination status, claimed a religious exemption but has declined to elaborate. He is suing.

The conflict over mandates is likely to grow in the coming weeks. The Biden administration is expected to move forward any day with the mandate that employers with 100 or more workers require all employees be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, though enforcement likely won't start for several weeks. The rule for federal contractors goes into effect in December, with no testing option, but many businesses, governments and schools are already implementing mandates.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups that represent large employers have warned workers might simply migrate to jobs at smaller businesses where they don't face vaccination requirements. That could create challenges for large retailers going into the holiday season, among other disruptions, the chamber warned.

Individuals who've left their jobs and are seeking work that doesn’t require vaccinations are sharing information on social media. Small employers looking for workers are turning to online job boards such as RedBalloon, where employers sign a pledge that they won't make vaccines a condition for hiring.

Andrew Crapuchettes, RedBalloon’s founder and chief executive, said he started the online job board more than two months ago for people "who just want to work and don’t want to get into politics in the office." More than 800 companies have posted, and more than 250,000 people have visited the site, he said.

Some states, including Texas, Montana and Florida, are gearing up to fight or undercut the Biden mandates. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday barring any entity from requiring vaccines.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday he will call a special session to pass legislation to combat vaccine mandates, saying that, "in Florida, your right to earn a living is not contingent upon whatever choices you’re making in terms of these injections."

Melissa Alfieri-Collins, a 44-year-old mother of two, said she resigned from her job as a nurse at Jersey Shore Medical Center in Neptune, New Jersey, rather than undergo regular COVID-19 testing.

She said the hospital recognized her request for a medical exemption, but she objected to the requirement that only unvaccinated people get tested, arguing that even vaccinated people can spread disease.

"My family and I, we had a long talk, and I basically don’t want to compromise my values any more," said Alfieri-Collins, who hopes to become a nurse practitioner and pursue her own holistic practice.

"I am very sad because I am the type of nurse that loves my patients and my patients love me," she said.

Anthony Polenski, director of strategic partnerships for tech recruiting company Jobfuture.ai, said he’s seeing candidates who want to know, "Will this company force me to take a jab?" Polenski said they are often leaving previous employers because of a vaccine mandate.

"They don’t want their vaccination status attached to their employment," he said.

At the shipyard in Maine, frustration is rising among union members.

On Friday, some 100 shipbuilders gathered outside the shipyard during their lunch break to protest being forced to get vaccinated. They marched down the street, holding signs decrying the mandate and using choice four-letter words that made clear what they think of the president and his vaccine mandates.

The union fears it could lose more than 1,000 workers, or 30% of its membership, over the federal contractor mandate.

Dean Grazioso, a 33-year Bath Iron Works employee, said he's not anti-vaccine but that he knows vaccinated coworkers, friends and family members who’ve contracted breakthrough COVID-19 infections.

The 53-year-old is still deciding whether to get the shot.

"I’m still up in the air," he said. "But I’ve got a huge decision to make."

____

Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey, and Dazio reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writer Anthony Izaguirre in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Washington State has fired football coach Nick Rolovich for refusing a state mandate that all employees get vaccinated against COVID-19.

That's according to a person familiar with the decision who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the university had not made an announcement and no one was yet authorized to speak publicly about the decision.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, had set a deadline of Monday for thousands of state employees, including the Cougars’ coach, to be vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs.

Rolovich had said he wouldn't get vaccinated, but wouldn't specify his reasons.

Several assistant coaches were also terminated, according to CBS Sports.

Washington State, 4-3, is scheduled to play BYU on Saturday.

AUSTIN, Texas —

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday to prohibit any entity, including private business, from enforcing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on workers and called on state lawmakers to pass a similar ban into law.

The move comes as the Biden administration is set to issue rules requiring employers with more than 100 workers to be vaccinated or test weekly for the coronavirus. Several major companies, including Texas-based American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, have said they would abide by the federal mandate.

"No entity in Texas can compel receipt of a COVID-19 vaccine by any individual, including an employee or a consumer, who objects to such vaccination for any reason of personal conscience, based on a religious belief, or for medical reasons, including prior recovery from COVID-19," Abbott wrote in his order.

Abbott, who was previously vaccinated and also later tested positive for COVID-19, noted in his order that "vaccines are strongly encouraged for those eligible to receive one, but must always be voluntary for Texans."

Abbott previously barred vaccine mandates by state and local government agencies, but until now had let private companies make their own rules for their workers. It was not immediately clear if Abbott's latest executive order would face a quick court challenge.

Abbott's new order also carries political implications. The two-term Republican is facing pressure from two candidates in next year's GOP primary, former state Sen. Don Huffines and former Florida Congressman and Texas state party chairman Allen West, have attacked Abbott's COVID-19 policies and have strongly opposed vaccine mandates.

"He knows which the way the wind is blowing. He knows conservative Republican voters are tired of the vaccine mandates and tired of him being a failed leader," Huffines tweeted.

West announced this week he tested positive for COVID-19 and has been hospitalized, but also tweeted he remains opposed to vaccine mandates.

Texas has seen a recent decrease in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. But a rising death toll from the recent surge caused by the delta variant has the state rapidly approaching 67,000 total fatalities since the pandemic began in 2020.

Several large companies based in Texas — including two of America's largest airliners — have said they plan to keep COVID-19 vaccine mandates for employees in place, siding with federal authorities in a showdown between the White House and the governor of Texas.

American Airlines, Southwest Airlines and IBM all said Tuesday that they would continue to require their workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, even though Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an order on Monday banning private businesses from enforcing such mandates.

In a statement to The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth-based American Airlines said that "we believe the federal vaccine mandate supersedes any conflicting state laws, and this does not change anything for American."

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines issued a similar statement to The Austin-American Statesman.

The company said they were choosing to comply with an order by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration — which will require businesses with over 100 employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated — because the White House order "supersedes any state mandate or law."

On Tuesday, Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told CNBC that he is opposed to vaccine mandates but that his company will still require the shots because he is required to by federal law.

"I've never been in favor of corporations imposing that kind of a mandate," Kelly said. "But the executive order from President Biden mandates that all federal employees and then all federal contractors, which covers all the major airlines, have to have a (vaccine) mandate (by Dec. 8)."

IBM told Bloomberg that it would keep in place a vaccine mandate for workers at its Texas office because the company has contracts with the federal government, meaning under Biden administration rules, it must require its employees to be vaccinated.

"IBM is a federal contractor and must comply with federal requirements, which direct employees of federal contractors to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by December 8th or obtain a medical or religious accommodation," a spokesperson for the company said. "We will continue to protect the health and safety of IBM employees and clients, and we will continue to follow federal requirements."

The resistance from high-profile employers could set up a legal battle, should the state of Texas choose to file a lawsuit.

According to The Associated Press, new cases of COVID-19 and hospitalizations linked to the virus have fallen in recent weeks. However, the state has seen more than 67,000 total coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic.

NEW YORK — Half of American workers are in favor of vaccine requirements at their workplaces at a time when such mandates are gaining traction now that the government has given full approval of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine.

The new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that 47% of in-person workers are in favor. About a quarter of all workers — working both remote and in-person — are opposed to such mandates.

The poll found similar findings for sentiments on workplace mask mandates. Half of Americans working — including 59% of those working remote — are in favor of requiring masks at work, with about one-third opposed.

About 6 in 10 college graduates — people who are more likely to have jobs that require them to work from home — support both vaccine and mask mandates at their workplaces. That compares to about 40% of workers without college degrees.

Kati Perry/AP

The poll results come just days after the Food and Drug Administration granted full approval to Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine — a move that could prompt more businesses and local governments to require vaccinations.

In recent days, the Pentagon has provided more information on their requirement that all military members be vaccinated; the city of Chicago has mandated that all city employees get a shot and Delta Airlines has introduced policies that penalize workers who do not choose to get vaccinated.