Anti-vaccine and anti-mask activists have begun targeting school children and vaccination sites. Their efforts represent an escalation in right-wing attempts to stop the so-called “medical tyranny” of COVID-19 prevention efforts.
Last Thursday, anti-mask protesters caused three schools in Vancouver, Washington — Skyview High School, Alki Middle School and Chinook Elementary School — to go under lockdown after they attempted to come onto the Skyview campus.
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Roughly 15 protesters descended on Skyview after a parent became angered over their student’s refusal to wear a mask, as required by the Vancouver School District. The protest group included members of the anti-LGBTQ, white supremacist groups The Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer, according to The Columbian.
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School security and administrators kept the protesters out of the building, but the schools remained under lockdown, denying entry to visitors but continuing classes otherwise. The school has since said it’s working with the parent to reach a solution.
“Regardless of one’s stance on mask mandates, I think most parents in our community agree that protesting at our school campuses and disrupting the school day is not in the best interest of students,” Vancouver school board president Kyle Sproul told the publication.
In a similar incident, around 7:30 a.m. last Friday morning, roughly 30 anti-mask protesters came onto the grounds of Bennie L. Cole Elementary School in San Antonio, Texas. The protesters were demonstrating against the Northside Independent School District’s mandatory mask policy for students.
While on school grounds, the protesters yelled at a student, telling him that he needed to take his mask off. The young student later went to talk with counselors because he was upset, NISD executive director of communications Barry Perez told the San Antonio news website MySA.com.
The protesters also confronted the school’s principal. Although protesters left after police asked them to, the school has asked police to provide extra security during the coming week, in case the protesters return.
Meanwhile, in Warsaw, Poland and France, anti-vaxxers have started destroying vaccination sites. On August 1, someone in Warsaw set fire to a vaccination center. The Polish Health Minister Adam Niedzielski called it “an act of terror.” Niedzielski noted that anti-vaxxers have also harassed vaccination workers and stormed another center elsewhere in the country.
In Urrugne, France during mid-June, anti-vaxxers set fire to one vaccination site. At another site in Grenoble, France, a vandal used fire hoses to flood a vaccination site.
In the last weekend of August, anti-vaccination protesters shut down a mobile vaccination clinic in Georgia after protesters threatened health care workers and people wanting vaccinations.
While anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers used to demonstrate at school board meetings and public health authorities, these new developments suggest that they’re changing their tactics. The optics, however, could ultimately work against their aims.
