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Washington DC hosts huge anti-vaccine mandate protest with thousands of demonstrators

Thousands of anti-vaccine mandate protesters descend on DC and ignore city’s outdoor mask rules to play songs by anti-mandate singer Meat Loaf and listen to speech from Robert F. Kennedy

 A crowd of up to 20,000 gathered in DC Saturday They gathered to protest ongoing vaccine mandates, including in the capitalMany went maskless, in defiance of outdoor rulesMeat Loaf’s songs were also heard blaring out at the eventThe singer – opposed to vaccine mandates and masks – is rumored to have died of COVID 

By Christina Coulter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:05 EST, 23 January 2022 | Updated: 16:09 EST, 23 January 2022

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Thousands gathered in Washington D.C. – a city that mandates vaccines – to protest vaccine mandates, with protesters blaring ballads by Meatloaf, a musician who is feared to have succumbed to COVID-19 complications at 74 after vocal hesitation about the jab. 

Robert F. Kennedy and Informed Consent Action Network founder Del Bigtree were among big names who addressed the rally Sunday morning. Around 20,000 people were expected to attend the demonstration.

‘Americans want democracy back, and this rally is a demand by Americans to get their democracy back,’ Kennedy said of the rally to WUSA9. 

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Anti vaccine mandate protesters are filmed in Washington Dc Sunday

Protesters put their hands to their hearts for the national anthem in Washington DC on Sunday

A crowd of up to 20,000 gathered around the National Mall 

Meat Loaf was heard playing, days after the anti-mandate singer died of suspected COVID aged 74 

Many of those who did so were not masked, despite DC Mayor Muriel Bowser mandating masks outdoors for people who have not had their COVID shot when gathered in large groups outside.

Meat Loaf – who died of suspected COVID side effects last week aged 74 – could be heard blaring out over the demonstration.

The much loved star was vocally anti-vaccine mandate and mask. Rumors that he was killed by the virus itself would also make him one of its highest-profile victims. It is unknown if he’d had the vaccine prior to his death. 

In videos posted to social media, the singer’s hit I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) could be heard blaring as protesters gathered around the Lincoln Memorial’s reflecting pool. 

 After the artist’s death on Thursday, some mocked his stances on vaccine and mask mandates on social media. 

 ‘In the end, he finally let us know what that one thing was that he wouldn’t do for love: Get vaccinated,’ tweeted Gene Wu, a Democrat in the Texas state House of Representatives, referring to the lyrics to his song that protesters played on Sunday.

RFK Jr was among anti-vaccine mandate protests who spoke at the DC rally Sunday, and is pictured on the steps of the Lincoln Monument 

Some of those who attended Sunday’s event were heckled for wearing face masks – despite local mandates saying unvaccinated people must don the coverings even while outdoors 

Some of those who attended were pro-vaccine but anti-vaccine mandate – but this protester, dressed as the grim reaper, clearly has issues with the COVID shots themselves 

Another anti-vaxxer held up a sign proclaiming ‘I am not a lab rat.’ Many of those who attended Sunday’s rally said they were unvaccinated 

Another protesters held up a sign suggesting those in favor of mandates were ‘Karens’ – an insulting term given to people deemed entitled and rude 

Protesters can be seen acting out a dramatic interpretation of a forced vaccination at Sunday’s protest

Firefighters, police officers and healthcare workers who have been effected adversely by vaccine mandates showed out in numbers to the protest

Those who were wearing masks were seen being taunted, with one man heckling people wearing face-coverings by saying ‘Take those masks off…it’s all a lie!’

Sunday’s protest drew a wide range of protesters, many elderly, with others babies in strollers. According to the Washington Post, many held up signs backing former President Donald Trump, himself an outspoken supporter of the vaccines his administration developed.

Others toted signs saying ‘Let’s go Brandon’ and ‘F**k Joe Biden’. Those who were wearing masks were seen being taunted, with one man heckling people wearing face-coverings by saying ‘Take those masks off…it’s all a lie!’   

The protest appeared to include both demonstrators who are pro-vaccine but anti-mandate, and others who are both anti-vaccine and anti-mandate.

One person with the latter belief was seen holding a sign saying ‘Vaccines are mass kill bio weapons.’ Kelly Clarkson’s song Stronger – with the lyrics  ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,’ could also be heard blaring out, according to the Post.   

Body therapist Justin Perrault, from Fairhaven in Massachusetts, said he’d been moved to attend after clients had stopped coming to his clinic because he’d refused to have a vaccine.  

He said he’d recently started using food stamps, and was worried about what his four and eight year-old children would make of him.

Perrault, who traveled with his wife and her friend, said he also wanted to take a stand against scientists’ claims that COVID vaccines are safe.

Some 20,000 protesters gathered in Washington DC for the mandate, According to the Washington Post , many held up signs backing former President Donald Trump, himself an outspoken supporter of the vaccines his administration developed 

The protest appeared to include both demonstrators who are pro-vaccine but anti-mandate, and others who are both anti-vaccine and anti-mandate

Sunday’s protest drew a wide range of protesters, many elderly, with others babies in strollers

 

A protester holds a sign, insinuating that it is more important to tackle the ‘virus’ of Democrats in power than COVID-19 

Also present was Jaedyn Wetzel, 12, who toted a sign saying ‘I have natural immunity.’ Wetzel, from Warfordsburg in Pennsylvania, caught COVID over Thanksgiving, and has since recovered. 

Thus far, there are 25 states that have vaccine mandates for employees of various categories, with 21 requiring vaccines or continuous testing for healthcare workers and six taking a ‘vaccinate or terminate’ approach and putting healthcare workers who are unvaccinated on leave. 

Conversely, 13 states have passed laws barring employers from mandating vaccines.

On Wednesday, NYPD officers were heckled for arresting five organized anti-vax mandate protesters and detaining a nine year-old girl Wednesday after they barged into the Natural History Museum without showing proof of COVID vaccination.  

Trouble began when a half-dozen purported members of the New York Freedom Rally – a group that has been staging anti-vax protests throughout the city – attempted to enter the Manhattan museum without showing their vaccine passports in violation of rules. Those require every visitor five years and older to show proof of vaccination.

The nine year-old, named Jayla, was filmed sobbing as she was marched down the steps by two cops, with onlookers filmed heckling and abusing the NYPD officers over her apprehension. She and her unnamed mom were taken to a nearby precinct, and released two hours later. It is unclear if the youngster’s mom will be charged.

The six anti-mandate activists affiliated with the New York Freedom Rally had made reservations to visit the museum on Wednesday, but were denied entry after failing to produce their COVID vaccine passports.

Even Fauci thinks the end is in sight! COVID tsar predicts almost all of US will have hit Omicron peak within WEEKS as early tri-state epicenters see infections plunge by up to 64% 

The nation’s top infectious disease specialist says Omicron cases will likely start dropping throughout the nation by mid-February as the hardest-hit cities experience infection rate dips of up to 64 percent.

Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday that the US will likely start to ‘see a turnaround’ in cases and hospitalizations as the highly-contagious variant begins to slow – and that it could signal a gradual return to normal.

‘We would hope that as we get into the next weeks or month, we will see throughout the entire country, the level of infection get to below what I call the ‘area of control,’ the famously gloomy White House COVID expert told ABC’s This Week on Sunday. 

‘Control means you’re not eliminating it, you’re not eradicating it, but it gets down into such a low level that it’s essentially integrated into the general respiratory infections that we have learned to live with.’

His shared an outlook of  cautious optimism as infections plunge in the country’s early epicenters on the east.

 

Infection rates are dropping in states considered the early epicenters of the Omicron variant, including in New York, where the infection rate has dipped 82 percent week-over-week

New Jersey has gone from 28,514 cases January 9 to 8,924 confirmed infections January 23, representing a 68 percent decrease

The situation also appears promising in Connecticut, where cases dropped from a January 10 high of 10,179 cases to 4,872 cases January 22

In New York – where parts of the state were paralyzed by Omicron last month – cases have dropped 58 per cent in a fortnight, and 82 per cent week-over-week. New Jersey’s infection rates dropped 64 per cent in a fortnight, and 89 per cent during the same last seven days, Johns Hopkins University data indicates.

The Empire State went from having 79,777 cases January 9 to recording 27,643 cases Saturday, representing a 54 percent drop during the past two weeks, according to New York Times data. 

Deaths related to the virus spiked 71 percent in the past two weeks; more than 62,600 New Yorkers have died from Covid since the pandemic began.

New Jersey has gone from 28,514 cases January 9 to 8,924 confirmed infections January 23, representing a 64 percent decrease.

However, the death rate jumped 71 percent in the Garden State, where  30,746 people have died since the virus took hold in early 2020.

Deaths traditionally lag behind infections, sparking hopes that they too will begin to slump in the coming weeks, as people infected by COVID at the recent peak either recover, or succumb to the virus.  

Dr. Anthony Fauci said during an appearance on ABC’s This Week that most US states could peak by mid-February

The situation also appears promising in Connecticut, where cases dropped from a January 10 high of 10,179 cases to 4,872 cases January 22, marking a 39 per cent dip. The state’s deaths are up 52 per cent.

Of course, the situation isn’t universal. The Eastern seaboard was the first to get hit by Omicron in early December, with the variant raging through quickly, as initially predicted.

But some states – such as Alabama, Kansas, Arizona and others are yet to peak, with cases still rising, and records being broken. 

Cases in Washington have spiked 52 percent in the past two weeks as the infection rate in New Mexico ratcheted up 134 percent during the same timeframe, according to NYT data.

As of Sunday morning, the US had recorded 70,495,874 COVID infections, and 865,968 deaths, according to a DailyMail.com analysis of Johns Hopkins’ University data.  

 

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