US protesters denounce vaccine mandates for NYC teachers, layoffs of education workers

US protesters have taken took to the streets of New York City to demand an end to COVID-19 vaccination mandate for teachers and other school workers as the city presses ahead with vaccine crackdown on Department of Education workers.

The protesters chanted "We will not comply" and “The system is corrupt” while holding signs that read, "Just give us back our testing option," among others, as the marched on the  city's Department of Education (DOE) headquarters in Brooklyn. Face masks were not widely seen among the attendees.

A veteran of the department said, "We are here to stand up for our freedom and to stand up against the medical tyranny. We're here to stand up for our kids. We have to stand up for our students who are, for some of us, our kids. And we are here to stand up, most of all for the freedoms that we were granted in this country and for our right to stand up for ourselves and for the future.”

Thousand of NYC teachers and Department of education workers have been fired in recent days after they refused to get the COVID vaccine.

The protest was held as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was championing the mandate during a Monday address in which he confirmed 19 out of 20 full-time Department of Education employees have already been vaccinated. In his briefing, he referred to the city's, "amazing effort."

Thousands of DOE employees, teachers and principals are still unvaccinated with most being replaced by substitutes.

The mandate, which was first announced on August 23, also requires the unvaccinated to be placed on unpaid leave until September, 2022. According to local media reporters, some staffers said they were still being paid.

"I'm here today because we're fighting for our rights. Everyone should have the right to decide whether they want to be vaccinated or not. It should be a choice, not a mandate," Jessica, a New York City kindergarten teacher, said in an interview at the protest in Brooklyn.

Biden's COVID vaccine mandate angers Republicans, libertarians

Republicans and libertarians are vowing to fight US President Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate covering big companies, healthcare workers and federal employees.

The Democratic Mayor announced on Aug. 23 that all 148,000 staff in the largest US school district would be required to submit proof of at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. After a lower court temporarily blocked the measure - an order since lifted - the deadline was pushed to Oct. 1.

A federal judge and the Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals had denied the teachers' bid to halt the mandate, prompting their appeal to the Supreme Court.

US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Friday refused to block New York City's requirement that its public school teachers and employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Monday’s protest against vaccine mandate came as the United States surpassed 700,000 coronavirus deaths.

The country has reported an average of more than 2,000 deaths per day over the past week, which represents about 60% of the peak in fatalities in January.

The highly transmissible Delta variant has driven a surge in COVID-19 cases that peaked around mid-September before falling to the current level of about 117,625 cases per day, based on a seven-day rolling average.

The United States still leads the world in COVID-19 cases and deaths, accounting for 19% and 14% of all reported infections and fatalities, according to Reuters tally.

Vaccination rates in some parts of the US Midwest and South are lagging those in the Northeast and parts of the West Coast, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, indicating a divide between the rural and urban parts of the country.

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