Anti-Vaxxers Are Leading Protests Against California’s Stay-At-Home Orders

• A recent anti-lockdown protest in Sacramento, California revealed that some of the activists are members of anti-vaccine group Freedom Angels Foundation.
• Health experts are worried as protesters continue to defy lockdown and social distancing orders.

As the United States continues its battle against coronavirus, the country is now facing more problems beyond the rising number of infections and deaths: protestors who are trying to convince government officials and the general public that the lockdowns aren’t really necessary.

It’s a disturbing trend that totally opposes official health advisories to stay home and observe social distancing. But yes, some people believe going on self-quarantine is entirely against their “civil rights.”

Case in point, hundreds of activists gathered outside the State Capitol in Sacramento, California last May 1, 2020 in an attempt to urge Governor Gavin Newsom to lift the restrictions and allow businesses to reopen as usual.

According to a report by the NewYorkTimes, some of these protesters aren’t actually business owners themselves but members of anti-vaccination group Freedom Angels Foundation.

Watch the video here:

Naturally, health experts are left worried about the possible effects of the group’s message.

As Dr. Rupali J. Limaye of Johns Hopkins University pointed out:

“What we hear a lot of is ‘individual self-management’ — this idea that they should be in control of making decisions, that they can decide what science is correct and incorrect, and that they know what’s best for their child.”

One of the organizers of the protest, Heidi Muñoz Gleisner (pictured in red below), a founding member of the Freedom Angels Foundation, eventually ended up getting arrested by authorities.

She defended:

“From Day 1, it’s been difficult that we’re always castigated as anti-vaccine, and these protests are castigated as anti-lockdown. We have always been about freedom.”

California Highway Patrol officers eventually tried to disperse the crowd. It has also been reported that the group did not receive a permit to protest from the CHP.

As of May 5, the U.S. already has 1,212,955 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 188,068 recoveries and a death toll of 69,925.