North Bay anti-vaccine activists protest mandates, considering legal action against school board
MARIN, Calif. (KGO) -- Thousands of people spent their Sunday protesting COVID-19 vaccine mandates across the country from our Nation's capitol to here in the Bay Area. Local activists say they have plans to fight those mandates.
A group calling themselves Marin Parents United, rallied and marched around the Marin County Civic Center Sunday protesting COVID-19 mandates.
"Our message here today we're against mandates of any form, masks and vaccines," said activist Tief Gibbs.
"I don't believe people should be forced to take the vaccination it should be a choice, there's evidence some people have been harmed by it," said activist Derrick Main.
RELATED: Bay Area parents protest statewide school vaccine mandates by keeping kids home
The group says it's considering a lawsuit against the Marin County Board of Education for requiring that some parents be vaccinated.
"Those school districts are discriminating against parents and children who are unvaccinated, not allowed to attend sports events if the can't provide proof of vaccination," said Gibbs.
The Marin County Office of Education says mandates are needed for health and safety.
"The public health department requires people gathering in large groups for things like sporting events be vaccinated, especially where transmission risk is high," said Superintendent Mary Jane Burke.
RELATED: Virginia parent threatens to bring guns to school over masks: 'Loaded and ready'
In Washington, D.C., thousands of anti-vaccine activists attended a rally denouncing local, state and Federal mandates.
But Medical experts say, two years into a pandemic that has claimed more than 860,000 lives in the U.S., vaccine mandates are needed to save lives and slow the spread of COVID.
"The only thing that moves the dial in the U.S. is mandates. Mandates speak to the benefit at the community level and hospital level, preventing hospitals from being overrun with sick patients from COVID," said UCSF Infectious Diseases Specialist, Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.
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