Joined by leftist and libertarian organizations, a group of current and former employees of the City of Los Angeles held a protest Aug. 16 calling on the city to end the ongoing COVID-19 vaccine mandate for its employees—enacted last December—and bring back those who were terminated for being unvaccinated.
As the city council met, about a dozen people demonstrated outside of the City Hall holding signs that read “medical freedom,” “defeat the mandates,” and “drop the shot,” before going inside to provide public comment.
Jessica Jimenez, a former LA Planning Department employee, said during the meeting that she was terminated in June for not complying with the mandate, which was unfair because the city had relaxed many COVID-19 restrictions for residents.
“While most of the city’s residents can enjoy their day and continue to provide financially for their families, you are ending the livelihoods of city employees who have been dedicated to their work for years,” Jimenez said.
While unvaccinated employees can submit religious exemption requests to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Jimenez said many such applications were denied, including hers.
“It is a shame that in a city where you promote diversity in regard to sex, race, gender, and religion, you are violating religious freedom by denying our religion exemption requests,” she said.
Her arguments were supported by members of organizations such as California Leftists 4 Freedom, the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County, and the medical-freedom advocacy group Free WeHo.
“There are no pretexts left for this ridiculous vaccine mandate,” Ian Jameson, founder of California Leftists 4 Freedom, told the council.
Jameson mentioned how the updated guidelines released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) no longer differentiate between unvaccinated and vaccinated people in their recommendations.
According to the CDC, it is “because breakthrough infections occur, though they are generally mild, and persons who have had COVID-19 but are not vaccinated have some degree of protection against severe illness from their previous infection.”
Jameson urged the city to revoke the mandate and to rehire all terminated employees.
“This entire episode has been disgraceful, unscientific, and ridiculous,” he said. “Admit you’re wrong. Do the right thing. Kill the mandate.”
The city currently has about 57,000 employees.
In March, it reportedly terminated 24 individuals for noncompliance with the vaccine mandate, Personnel Department spokesman Bruce Whidden told the Los Angeles Times.
An additional 53 had been warned through official documents of their violations, and seven Los Angeles Police Department employees awaited action by a disciplinary panel, according to Whidden.
In addition, about 5,000 religious or medical exemption requests are still pending—which, if denied, could result in more terminations.
A spokesperson for the city did not respond to a request for comment by press deadline.
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