Over 60 protestors on hand for rally last weekend
By Dolores Quintana
A protest was held at the Federal Building on Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood against the LAUSD vaccine mandate and mask requirement for all students, staff, and any visitors on school campuses.
On Sunday, December 5, there were more than 60 protesters on hand, according to The Daily Bruin. There were families with children at the protest and most of them had signs that bore slogans such as “UTLA is the virus”, “MASK: Mentally Abusing School Children [sic], “Shame on LAUSD”, “I Can’t Breathe”, “End School Mandates, End School Segregation” and “Gavin Newsom Isn’t My Parent”.
The protesters want to vent their frustration at LAUSD and the United Teachers of Los Angeles in hopes that it might sway public opinion and convince the school district to drop vaccine mandates and mask requirements. The demonstration took place starting at 1:00 p.m. at the corner of Wilshire and Veteran Avenue, which is a popular spot for protests over the years. Members of the protest repeatedly crossed the street with megaphones trying to get support from passing cars. One LAFD ambulance honked their horn while passing through the intersection along with dozens of cars that did the same while driving through according to The Daily Bruin.
If students haven’t been fully vaccinated by January 10, 2022, parents face the choice of having to enroll their children in a non-LAUSD school district that will accept unvaccinated students or switch to the City of Angels online learning program. As of December 8, according to ABC 7 News, 85% of LAUSD students met the deadline for students 12 years old or above to be fully vaccinated by January 10, 2022. This means that roughly 34,000 students will not be able to meet the vaccine mandate deadline in the second largest school district in the nation. LAUSD will ease Covid protocols, according to The Daily News, in the next semester starting January 11, 2022. Schools that meet the vaccination threshold of 85% will no longer be required to mask outdoors and only unvaccinated students will be required to take regular Covid tests and they will only be required to take Covid tests on a weekly basis. As of Wednesday, December 8, there is no longer enough time for students to be vaccinated to meet the requirements of the mandate since only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for use on children and the attendant waiting periods to reach full protective immunity would take too long.
One person at the protest, Deanna Tate said that she is not against the Covid 19 vaccine even though she is not vaccinated. She added that she believes that parents should be able to choose if their children will be vaccinated because of the possibility of side effects as quoted by The Daily Bruin.
However, the American Academy of Pediatrics or AAP recommends that all children and adolescents over the age of five should be vaccinated against Covid 19, including any children or adolescents who have previously been infected with Covid 19. The AAP has also spoken regarding vaccine safety and their recommendation is that any Covid 19 vaccine that has the Emergency Use Authorization authorization from the Food and Drug Administration and is recommended by the CDC has been rigorously tested and is safe for use in vaccination of children and adolescents.
There are currently two lawsuits that have been filed to stop the LAUSD vaccine mandate and neither of them have been successful to date. One lawsuit was filed by the parent of an LAUSD student on Oct. 8 and a second lawsuit was filed on Oct. 13 by Children’s Health Defense, which is Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ‘s anti-vaccine group, partnered with Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids group that has taken an anti-Covid 19 vaccine stance who say they represent 900 LAUSD parents. A hearing is being held this week regarding the second lawsuit.
LAUSD isn’t enforcing the newest recommendation that children five to 11 years old can now be vaccinated, however, they do offer voluntary vaccination to this age group of children as well as vaccinations and testing through mobile vaccination and testing teams.
