A group of anti-vaccine mandate protesters attacked a COVID-19 testing station in Union Square, NYC.
Teachers and other school workers rallied from the Department of Education’s headquarters in Brooklyn uptown to denounce mandatory vaccines.
New York City authorities say they introduced the measure to curb the spread of the virus and encourage people to get inoculated. The mandate allows for medical and religious exemptions, but the protesters believe it infringes their freedoms.
Thousands of unvaccinated school employees are being placed on unpaid leave with plans for substitutes to stand in for them. In a press conference Mayor Bill de Blasio justified the mandate saying it was ‘the right thing to do’ as parents ‘need to know their kids will be safe’.