Search This Blog

Monday, April 11, 2022

Antivax Rally in Los Angeles

 In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread  And among those diseases could be COVID-19.

Antivaxxers are sometimes violent, often abusive, and always wrong.

Benjamin Oreskes at LAT:
More than a thousand people opposed to vaccine mandates rallied in Grand Park in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Sunday, waving American flags and holding signs with such messages as “Defeat the Mandates” and “Reclaim Your Divinity.” One musical act drew cheers while performing a song with the chorus “this is a war on religion.”

A slew of featured speakers was interspersed with musical acts as crowds listened to people decry COVID-19 vaccine requirements, Democratic politicians and mask mandates imposed during various time periods over the last two years.
Vendors hawked T-shirts with swipes at President Biden and his messages about vaccines, while volunteers walked around with petitions to recall L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón. Other volunteers handed out fliers for a variety of Republican politicians in California.

“I won’t put that mask on because all I can think of is anger,” said Judy Mikovits, a virologist who espouses a litany of debunked views about COVID-19 and ailments such as chronic fatigue.
...

The streets around Grant Park were lined Sunday with big rigs that were part of the “People’s Convoy” that had traveled to Los Angeles for the rally after a nationwide tour. The group of about 100 truckers embarked in February from San Bernardino on the tour that took them to Washington, D.C., and back.