Hundreds protest mandatory flu shots in Boston

Protesters decry mandate as violation of their bodily autonomy

Demonstrators in Massachusetts gathered on Sunday to protest the state's decision to make the flu vaccine mandatory for students.

The protesters called the state's decision an assault on their individual rights.

According to The Boston Herald, a freshman high school student, Emerson Kearns, addressed the crowd to voice her dissatisfaction with the state's mandate.

"I should be starting school, not fighting for my right to be in school," she said.

The state made the flu vaccine mandatory earlier this year. Under the new rules, any student older than 6 months is required to get the vaccine, and must do so by the end of the year. Individuals with medical or religious exemptions may forgo the vaccination.

Many protesters said the flu vaccine should be a choice, echoing the concerns of those critical of wearing face masks to diminish the spread of the coronavirus.

"I think parents are vulnerable right now," Taryn Proulx, a parent, told local broadcaster WCVB. "They need their kids to go to school and they backed us into a corner. We feel like we have to just comply or rearrange our whole lives and homeschool our children."

Carla LeClerc, a chiropractor who spoke with Agence France-Presse reporters, said that it the choice to vaccinate should be between parents and their doctors, and claimed that immunisations were not effective.

"I'm strongly against the proposed vaccination and mandated anything. It should be a parent's choice whether to vaccinate their kids, especially for the flu shot, which is not even safe, necessary or effective," she said.

Massachusetts already requires a number of vaccines for students entering public schools.

At varying ages, students must receive the polio, MMR, chickenpox, Hepatitis B and DTaP vaccines.

The state issued the mandate in mid August after health experts issued warnings that the upcoming flu season mixing with the ongoing coronavirus could prove disastrous for public health.

Dr Larry Madoff, the medical director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences, pressed the importance of receiving a vaccine in a statement he issued announcing the new mandate.

"It is more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine because flu symptoms are very similar to those of Covid-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and preserve health care resources," Dr Madoff wrote.