Several parents and students stood outside of Porto’s on Monday to voice their displeasure on an impending Covid-19 vaccine mandate for students. Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY - A mix of parents and students gathered outside of Porto’s Bakery on Monday in opposition of California’s recently announced Covid-19 vaccine mandate for students.

Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom announced plans to require all students to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 - once the vaccine received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – for in-person school attendance.

California is the first state in the nation to do so.

Several of those at Monday’s protest said that they were not anti-vaccine, however did not feel it was right that their children should be forced to receive the shot.

Patty Duarte, of Downey, has two students at Downey High School. She, her husband, and her family are vaccinated, however have been hesitant to have their children follow suit.

“I am for freedom, our country, our rights, our freedom,” said Duarte. “I feel like if we are giving that up, it shouldn’t be a mandate; especially to something that we put in our bodies.”

“I’m not against vaccines, I’m against the Covid vaccine; something that came about so fast, and for them to put something in my children’s body like that.”

Duarte added that she does not believe when experts claim the vaccine is safe.

“There is a lot of them that don’t even have the vaccine, and they’re experts, supposedly,” said Duarte.

She added that she believes that “Covid is real,” however she still feels safe sending her children to school.

Megan Muniz, of Lynwood, has a daughter who is unable to receive several of the usually required vaccinations due to a previously existing medical condition.

“My daughter suffers from epilepsy, so she’s already exempt from certain vaccines,” said Muniz. “Being forced to take another vaccine which could be very harmful to her, it’s scary because I haven’t even spoke to her doctor or communicated with the school.”

“It’s just scary that they could force people to do something that might not be the right choice for that individual.”

Muniz herself is not vaccinated, and said that her choice shouldn’t have an effect on those who were.

“I feel like if people want to go and get vaccinated, and that makes them healthy, then they’re healthy and that won’t affect me,” said Muniz. “If I don’t get vaccinated, it only affects me, it doesn’t affect other people.”

Muniz’s daughter does not attend Downey schools.

Leah Gutierrez, of La Mirada, said she joined the protest for her “rights as a parent” and her children against the vaccine mandate.

“I’m not against the vaccination, I’m against the freedom of choice,” said Gutierrez. “I’m against the government trying to force us to vaccinate me, or vaccinate my children.”

“I’m not against the vaccine; if people want to have the vaccine, that’s fine. I just feel that we’re in America, we should have the freedom to choose whether we want the vaccine or not.”

Gutierrez’s children attend in the Norwalk La Mirada School District, which recently voted against implementing a Covid-19 vaccination mandate for staff.

According to officials, Downey Unified School District did not initially seem to experience any unusual number of absences on Monday.

They released a statement on Tuesday, saying:

“We understand that families may have strong emotions and questions about COVID-19 safety measures, including vaccine and testing requirements. However, keeping children home from school to protest Governor Newsom’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement only resulted in lost learning time for students across the state of California. School attendance has a huge impact on a student’s academic success starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school; we truly hope our Downey Unified families kept their children in school today.

Unlike other districts in our region that have mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for their staff and students, we in Downey Unified have not. That being said, our district has no control over the proposed State mandate put in place to require the COVID-19 vaccine in the same manner as the current 10 vaccines already required by California law for students attending K-12 schools. This mandate would not go into effect until COVID-19 vaccines are given full authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This means implementation of the vaccine mandate would occur no sooner than July 2022. As a district, although we cannot predict actions such as the student vaccine mandate, we continue to encourage those who are interested and eligible to get vaccinated.”

Parents protest student vaccine mandate