The majority of Los Angelenos hailed Mayor Garcetti’s sweeping vaccination mandate. Some, however, did not share the sentiment. The ordinance sparked a public demonstration Monday morning.
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The mandate requires workers to get vaccinated or apply for exemption by Dec. 18.
“Any city employee who refused to get vaccinated by that date should be prepared to lose their job,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti.
The demonstration was organized by Firefighters4freedom. Workers attended in clothes designating their employment, including the Los Angeles City and County Fire Departments, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Many brought with them the American flag, while others carried signs calling for a stop for the “deadly mandate.”
BRADLEY DITZEL: We came up here today to show support against the vaccine mandate by the government.
That is Bradley Ditzel, who has been working at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for 32 years.
DITZEL: We don’t believe that vaccination should be mandated by the government. It’s a personal choice. It’s our bodies, it’s our own choice.
Ditzel said he had gotten a religious exemption and was not worried about the mandate.
DITZEL: I’m here to support those people that do no believe that the government should be the ones mandating anything [that] goes into our body. It’s unacceptable.
Los Angeles firefighter Armando Diaz also attended the protest.
ARMANDO DIAZ: Firefighters for freedom, the reason we’re here is because we want the freedom to choose to take the vaccines. Now, we are the front workers. We’ve been there since the beginning.
Diaz was part of the group of more than 500 L.A. firefighters who sued against the city over the vaccine mandate in September. The lawsuit was filed in L.A. County Superior Court and claimed the mandate violated constitutionally protected, autonomous privacy rights.
KRISTEN: I’m currently suspended right now because I didn’t get the vaccine so I could lose my job, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose my job.
That is Kristen, who worked as a nurse and wasn’t able to give her last name.
KRISTEN: But it doesn’t matter because right now it’s like, it’s freedom or it’s over. So we got to stand up now.
Mayor Garcetti has doubled down on his decision to roll out the vaccination mandate. He stated that it is “critical to protecting the health and safety of [the] workforce and the Angelenos that [they] serve.”
However, religious or medical exemptions are also available. Workers seeking these exemptions will be required to take two tests a week at their own expense while the city processes the request. If the exemption is approved, the testing cost will be reimbursed.