WASHINGTON - Waving signs denouncing United States President Joe Biden and calling for"freedom", several thousand people demonstrated in Washington on Sunday against what some described as the"tyranny" ofSpeaker after speaker - including anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust - took to the microphone in front of the white marble Lincoln Memorial to decry the rules.
Like other Covid-19 restrictions aimed at reining in a disease that has infected more than 70 million people in the US, killed more than 865,000 and brought much of daily life around the globe to a stuttering halt for two years and counting, vaccine mandates have become a deeply polarising political issue."Breathe. Inhale God, exhale fear," exhorted yet another to applause from the crowd, made up of people of all ages, including children, and largely unmasked.
"I'm not anti-vaccine, but I'm anti this vaccine," Ms Michelle, a 61-year-old physical therapist from Virginia who declined to give her last name, told Agence France-Presse. She said the messenger RNA serums developed by companies such as Pfizer and Moderna in record time were"too experimental" and"rushed".have been proven safe and effective,Ms Michelle, who paused in the interview to sing the national anthem with other demonstrators, said she has a religious exemption from taking the vaccine - but that to continue coming to work in Washington she has to get tested every week.
"Mandates are not appropriate... vaccines aren't working, we've been lied to about the vaccines," said the 61-year-old, who worked in a school cafeteria before her retirement and also refused to give her last name."I talked to a couple of psychologists who say our children are suffering and they're depressed... It's terrible. We need our freedom back."
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