- Title: 'We will not comply!' - Anti-vaccination protesters reject COVID-19 mandates
- Date: 25th August 2021
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 25, 2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE LISTENING TO MAYER
- Embargoed: 8th September 2021 22:54
- Keywords: COVID-19 New York protest vaccine mandate
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA003ERS4RIF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chanting "we will not comply" and "no more shots", hundreds of people protested vaccine mandates in New York City on Wednesday (August 25).
The protest was organized by New York unions representing workers across the city.
"I think you should have the choice whether or not to take the shot," said a man in the crowd who did not want to give his name. "I don't think it's right for the corporations to pressure citizens into taking the shot. The FDA has been wrong before. People can look up how many times they've been wrong. There's a long, long list of drugs that they've had to recall over time. Why is this any different?"
"Why does a child need a doctor's note to go to a tanning salon, but they want to vaccinate children that are not of the age of consent, why?," asked another man who did not want to give his name.
The protest came about a week after New York City began requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination at restaurants, gyms and other businesses. The mandate sparked backlash from some business owners and residents who sued New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Also on Monday, de Blasio announced that public school teachers and staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19.
"A medical treatment is not something you need to take to go to a restaurant. A medical treatment is not something you need to work on. Medical treatment is not something you need to exist as a healthy human being," said Alix Mayer, president of the California chapter of Children's Health Defense (CHD). CHD is an organization headed by vaccination skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The vaccine mandates are part of a push to get more residents inoculated and slow the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant.
(Production: Angela Moore / Hussein Waaile) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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