Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US
Pushback is happening over vaccine requirements and mask mandates.
The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 615,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.4% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission -- vaccinated or not -- wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
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Protests against mandated COVID-19 vaccines pop up across US
As the COVID-19 delta variant causes a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the U.S., protests against mandatory COVID vaccines have cropped up around the country.
Dozens of people gathered outside St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, Minnesota on Saturday to protest vaccination mandates from health care systems including M Health Fairview, Allina Health, HealthPartners and Children's Minnesota,
ABC affiliate KSTP reported.
The only exemptions are for strong religious beliefs or medical conditions. "We stand up for our patients all the time and no one's standing up for us," Allison Todd, a nurse at Allina Health's Cambridge clinic told the station.
Hundreds protested outside of ChristianaCare in Newark, Delaware, Saturday to push back against the hospital's decision to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for all employees, according to WPVI.
And more than 100 gathered in Vancouver, Washington, to protest COVID-19 vaccine mandates for hospital workers, ABC's Portland affiliate, KATU reported.