From anti-vax to anti-mask: School districts brace for parent resistance
The same parents who loudly opposed school vaccine requirements in Sacramento last year are turning their attention to mask recommendations that districts are considering as they figure out how to send kids back to the classroom in the middle of a pandemic.
The anti-vaccine movement has seized on mask orders and stay-at-home restrictions as similar infringements on their bodily autonomy and constitutional rights. Those arguments could complicate matters when school returns in the fall, as activists become a vocal force in opposing new mandates on student facial coverings and other preventative efforts.
“Anti-vaxxers are morphing into the anti-anything movement. It’s clear to me that some of them are going to have their children show up to schools without masks to prove their point and poke the bear,” California Assembly Education Chair Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) said in an interview. “I don't know what authority schools will have.”
At a June legislative hearing in Sacramento on school reopening, parents wore shirts that said “Make pharma liable again” and “I don’t want a flu shot!” They voiced concerns about unfounded impacts of masks on children being able to breathe and the potential for a Covid-19 vaccine requirement down the road.
Christina Hildebrand, president and founder of A Voice for Choice, a California organization that opposes childhood vaccine requirements, said parents are against mask rules in school because of potential for detrimental social-emotional and educational impacts, like an “ingrained fear of contagion" and an inability to socialize.
“Wearing an improperly worn cloth mask is likely to have little positive additional health impact on children vs. the detrimental social, emotional and potential health issues of wearing a mask for 7-8 hours a day,” Hildebrand said in an email. CONTINUE READING: From anti-vax to anti-mask: School districts brace for parent resistance
