Another rally was planned in California against the state’s COVID vaccine mandate on Monday as parents and people across the state continue to voice their concerns about forced vaccinations.
As reported by ABC 10, “The Our Children, Our Choice Rally is calling on people to head to the Capitol on Nov. 15 in response to California’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. It includes a call to keep students home from school to show the districts how many students they could lose due to the mandate, according to [an event organizer].”
“I think the commitment is amongst all these parents that they are not going to give up. They’re going to continue to fight, whether it’s through a rally, whether it’s through writing their representatives, whether it’s getting their school boards to pass resolutions that say they will not comply, whatever it is, they will continue to fight,” said Jonathan Zachreson, event organizer for the rally.
“This is not an anti-vaccine rally. You know, whether you’re vaccinated or not… everybody is welcome. This is about a choice in regard to the COVID-19 vaccine at school,” Zachreson said.
Last month, faculty and students at schools across the state of California staged walkouts in defiance of vaccine and testing requirements set to take effect.
The co-organizers of Monday’s planned rally were a part of the event in October.
“If the rally’s name sounds familiar, that’s because co-organizers Amber Faddis and Tess Van Dusen held a similar event last month. Zachreson says nearly 4,000 people attended that rally,” ABC 10 reported.
As reported by the Los Angeles Daily News last month:
The demonstrations — which spanned from San Francisco to San Diego, and from the San Fernando Valley to the Inland Empire and Orange County in between — coincided with statewide employee vaccination requirements that kick in this week, essentially leaving school employees with a choice to either get vaccinated, tested or potentially lose their jobs.
Word of possible sit-outs and other protests spread on social media over the weekend, with activists urging parents to pull their children from school — and teachers and other school employees to join them by staying home from work.
An additional school district has also joined the fight against school COVID vaccine mandates in California.
Last month, the “Happy Valley Union School Board voted 3-1 to defy California’s vaccine mandate for teachers and students,” per ABC 7 KRCR.
“Superintendent Shelly Craig is the principal of Happy Valley Elementary School and said she did not have enough information to accurately answer questions about how defiance of the mandate will affect Happy Valley Schools, state funding, or how kids will be kept safe from COVID-19,” the local outlet noted at the time.
The district is not the only one in the state to push back against the governor’s decision.
As reported by The Daily Wire, the Board of Trustees of the Calaveras Unified School District voted 5-0 not to “support, enforce or comply with” the mandate, which continues to be pending.
“The board announced its decision to parents via Facebook. The vote applies to both students and staff. The board also moved to put the topics of mask mandates and testing protocols for COVID-19 on the agenda for the board’s upcoming meeting on November 23,” The Daily Wire noted.
Democratic Governor of California Gavin Newsom announced on October 1 that his state would be the first to force eligible students in private and public schools to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to be able to go to school in person. The mandate would go into effect once the vaccines have been approved fully, not merely granted emergency use authorization.
According to KFI News in Los Angeles, “The governor is directing the California Department of Public Health to add the COVID vaccine to other vaccinations required for in-person learning.”