Photos: Anti-Vaccine Mandate Protest At The Santa Monica Pier

SANTA MONICA, CA — A group of anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators held a protest march starting at the Santa Monica Pier Wednesday afternoon.

The California chapter of the Children's Health Defense organization, which has long opposed vaccination mandates and assailed the effectiveness of the vaccines, gathered at 4 p.m. along Ocean Avenue and headed towards California Incline.

Earlier Wednesday, a group that calls themselves "Cali Free," protested at the Malibu Pier against "medical mandates."

The demonstration is seemingly about school mandates, as protesters can be seen holding signs that read "parent's rights are fundamental and supreme," "say no to vaccine mandates," and "we are their voice, they are our future."

It is unclear which mandates the group was specifically protesting.

The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District does not have a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Community and Public Relations Officer Gail Pinsker said. They will wait for Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision on vaccine mandates for students and will enforce any mandate he makes.
The district does, however, require indoor and outdoor masking on campus.

Los Angeles County will begin offering pediatric doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to kids aged 5-11 Wednesday, one day after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave final approval of the shots.

The county received its first shipment of the vaccines on Tuesday, and county officials will gather at a park in East Los Angeles late this afternoon to mark the beginning of the vaccination effort for young children.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the pediatric shots last week, and a CDC advisory committee OK'd them Tuesday morning. CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky gave final approval Tuesday afternoon, making the shots immediately available to those age 5-11.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said there are 900 providers in the county that are ready to administer the pediatric doses.

"Sites that receive doses today (Tuesday) might be able to start vaccinations as early as (Wednesday) afternoon or Thursday," Ferrer told the county Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.

She said that while the county received its first shipment of pediatric doses Tuesday, it expects to receive a total of nearly 300,000 doses within the next week to 10 days.

According to Ferrer, there are about 900,000 kids aged 5-11 in the county.

"We don't anticipate scarcity, and we expect that there will be ample vaccines to meet demand," she said.

- City News Service and Patch Editors Nicole Charky and Emily Rahhal contributed to this report.

SEE MORE:

• CA To Vaccinate Kids Aged 5 To 11 Amid CDC's OK [Survey]
• Anti-Vaccine Mandate Demonstrators Gather At Malibu Pier