Thousands march in Washington against mandates

Waving signs denouncing US President Joe Biden and calling for "freedom", thousands of people demonstrated in Washington on Sunday against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in the United States.

The march was billed as a protest against vaccine mandates, vaccine passports, vaccines for children and other pandemic requirements and restrictions. Among those marching were firefighters, teachers, first responders and anti-vaccine activists.

The march came just a week after Washington's vaccine mandate, which requires patrons of indoor businesses to show proof of vaccination, took effect in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases and the highly infectious Omicron variant.

The Supreme Court earlier this month blocked the Biden administration's vaccine-or-test mandate for large businesses amid an increasingly heated nationwide debate on anti-pandemic regulations.

People in the US have become intensely divided over coronavirus-related measures, with some fed up and frustrated by the strain that the pandemic has put on daily life.

COVID-19 had infected more than 70 million people in the US and killed more than 866,000 as of Sunday.

Nearly a quarter of eligible US citizens remain unvaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Washington, speaker after speaker－including notorious anti-vaccine Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who compared mandates to the Holocaust－took to the microphone in front of the white marbled Lincoln Memorial to decry the rules.

"Mandates and freedoms don't mix, like oil and water," another speaker said.

"Breathe. Inhale God, exhale fear," exhorted yet another to applause from the crowd made up of people of all ages, including children, and largely unmasked.

"I'm not anti-vaccine, but I'm anti this vaccine," Michelle, a 61-year-old physical therapist from Virginia who declined to give her last name, told Agence France-Presse.

She said the messenger RNA serums developed by companies such as Pfizer and Moderna in record time were "too experimental" and "rushed".

The mRNA vaccines, given to millions of people in the past year, have been proved safe and effective, and have been hailed as potential game changers in modern medicine.

Agencies - Xinhua