US protesters disrupt Covid vaccination
Demonstrators have briefly disrupted a coronavirus vaccination distribution centre at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, calling the jabs part of a conspiracy by elites to control the population.
Several dozen people carrying signs demanding the end of lockdowns and promoting anti-vaccination conspiracy theories gathered on Saturday at the entrance to the vaccination site, one of the largest in the United States, social media posts showed.
Officials shut the site down for nearly an hour, United States (US) media reported, citing fire department officials – though the Los Angeles police department later insisted it was not closed and all the vaccines would be distributed.
The incident represents the latest challenge to the vaccine roll-out in the US, which has the highest number of cases and deaths in the world from Covid.
The Los Angeles Daily News spoke to protester Jairo Rodriguez, 26, who said most of the protesters were supporters of former president Donald Trump who deliberately chose not to wear pro-Trump attire or carry US flags in order to “better communicate their anti-vaxxing message”. He also said they did not wear masks.
On social media, protesters were shown holding signs reading “Covid = scam,” “99.96 survival rate,” and “Tell Bill Gates to Vaccinate Himself.” The latter in reference to a conspiracy theory that vaccines were being used to implant microchips in the population in order to control them by a New World Order.
President Joe Biden has pledged to have 100 million people vaccinated within his first 100 days – but the rollout began slowly under Trump.
Los Angeles County, where Covid cases have surged this winter, is currently only vaccinating front-line medical workers and people aged 65 and over.
Even among those groups, appointments are extremely difficult to obtain, with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna shots in limited supply.—Al Jazeera
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