L.A. firefighters, cops calls vaccine mandate ‘unconstitutional’
Firefighters 4 Freedom leader John Knox rips the COVID vaccine mandate.
Hundreds of Los Angeles firefighters and police officers are pushing back on a coronavirus vaccine mandate.
"It's not necessarily whether I want to get vaccinated or not. The point that we are bringing to the table here is that we should have a choice in the matter," "Firefighters 4 Freedom" leader John Knox told "Fox & Friends" host Ainsley Earhardt.
Firefighters 4 Freedom was launched by a group of Los Angeles city firefighters "to stop the mandated vaccinations for all city employees as well as the citizens of this great country," their website states.
Their goal is "to bring education and truth to the people without being censored."
Democrats Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Nury Martinez announced in a July 27 ordinance that they would push mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for city employees. City employees are required to submit proof of vaccination or a weekly negative test. Signed by the mayor last month, the Los Angeles City Council approved it unanimously
"It comes as the highly contagious Delta variant continues to drive an alarming surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths among the unvaccinated in Los Angeles County and across the country," a press release from Mayor Garcetti's website stated.
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The Los Angeles Times reported that unions representing police and firefighters are warning that terminating or prompting employees to leave over the vaccine mandate would make the city less safe.
Knox said that they are planning to fight the vaccine mandate in court.
According to the L.A. Times, Firefighters 4 Freedom attorney Kevin McBride plans to challenge the law based on a privacy clause in the California Constitution. McBride said that his clients’ rights are protected by the state’s Medical Experimentation Act.
The group has 350 members, according to McBride.
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Knox said that the firefighters and police officers feel the vaccine mandate is "unconstitutional both federally and at the state level."
"And so for us it's -- we feel that we have the right to have informed consent and that we should be able to make the decision what we do with our bodies and not be told what we need to do," he said.
The Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti released a statement saying "the Delta variant continues to spread and it is more important than ever that people get vaccinated right now. This requirement is critical to protecting the health and safety of our workers and Angelenos."