'Freedom was more important than a pay cheque'

Danielle Thornton was in the school pick-up line waiting for her children when she learned she would face a life-changing choice: get the Covid-19 vaccine or lose her job of almost nine years at Citigroup.

She and her husband had watched as bosses across the US introduced vaccine mandates, knowing the family might face this moment. Then, in the form of an email on her phone, it arrived.

"We had many, many conversations about it," she says. "But ultimately we decided that our freedom was more important than a pay cheque."