A rally organized by those who decry vaccine mandates and the City of Healdsburg’s vaccine requirement for attending in-person city council meetings was held at the steps of City Hall on Dec. 6.
A crowd of more than 40 people from various cities stood outside with signs. “My body, my choice,” “End segregation now,” “Save our democracy”, “Let our elected council member into the council meeting” could be read from protester signs. One person with a megaphone instructed the rest to attempt to enter council chambers. People began to bang on walls before entering the corridor.
“I am drinking from the vaccinated-only water fountain,” one person said once inside.
Protesters chanted “no mandates, no masks” and yelled they would not comply as they began to enter the corridor that connects to the council chambers.
While demonstrators were vocal about their opposition toward the vaccine mandate and masks, the aim of the rally was also to show support for Councilmember Skylaer Palacios — who’s unvaccinated for several reasons — and her stance around the city’s vaccine mandate. Palacios feels that the vaccine requirement for attending meetings in person is exclusionary.
Susan Marquez, a Rohnert Park resident, said she attended the protest to support someone who has a difference of opinion.
“I may not even agree with the opinion. But I think we should have the right to have a difference of opinion and not be ostracized for it,” Marquez said.
Her sign read, “Where there is risk, there must be choice.”
“All Skylaer is trying to say is that they don’t have enough information to know whether she’s allergic to this because she has serious allergies. I have the same problem. So until I know what’s in the shot, it’s a risk,” she said.
“I just want to give it time for the study to complete itself. I’m not trying to be confrontational but what happened to the America where we could have a difference of opinion and it would be OK? So I just want to support her decision to take her stand. I would support almost anyone’s decision to have an opinion different from everybody else,” Marquez said.
Healdsburg resident Martha Chapin Nezgoda said she was present in order to protest the mandate of shots.
“To protest the young woman, Skylaer from being taken out of the council and demanding to be put in Zoom. I think that we all walk around exposed to many big diseases and people survive,” Chapin said. “I think it’s very sad that this is the United States of America. People leave their countries to come here for freedoms and all our freedoms are being taken away one by one by one.”
Sonia, who is originally from Sebastopol but now lives in Glen Ellen, attended to support personal choice.
“I’m always about choice. I trust in my choice for myself and I trust that other people also know what’s best for them. I’m super supportive of that, and I would hope that everyone would respect everybody else’s choice,” she said. “In no way I don’t value anybody else’s lives or anything like that. That’s never been the case. I actually really feel sad that was even a reason that people would think that is why I chose not to be vaccinated. I just truly believe that I am capable of healing myself and I know that might sound ‘woowoo’ to a lot of people, but that’s just the way that I feel. I think what’s important is that people trust in themselves in anything, not just their health, but in any part of their lives.”
The protest delayed the start of the Monday council meeting after several protesters in the crowd stated they wanted to attempt to enter the council chambers and entered the main corridor of City Hall.
The council meeting was moved to online only on Zoom and started at 6:45 p.m. per an announcement from city clerk Raina Allan.
Once the city council meeting was able to commence, Healdsburg Mayor Evelyn Mitchell made a statement regarding the attempts to enter the council chambers, and said her and the council were concerned for their safety and the safety of the public.
“I am and I know all my fellow council members and city staff are also feeling quite disturbed by what’s gone on this evening and to be in a situation where we were essentially in a harm’s way and we had to lock our doors to the chamber because of a number of individuals who were unwilling to be concerned about our safety and others through the masking, social distancing, vaccination protocols. While we respect the right to protest, this was completely beyond where we thought anybody should go or could go,” Mitchell said. “We were really concerned about our safety, we were mostly concerned about everyone else’s safety in our community, so we are going to continue our meeting on Zoom.”
The fervor around vaccine mandates started after Nov. 1 when the Healdsburg City Council decided to return to in-person council meetings in a hybrid format, meaning council members and the public could attend online via Zoom or in person if able to provide proof of vaccination.
While some governing bodies allow proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test for attendance to in-person meetings, most of the council members weren’t comfortable with allowing the negative test option.
As the discussion turned to council members’ individual comfort level regarding proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test for meetings, the vaccination status of the council members themselves came up.
Councilmember Ariel Kelley said while she’s vaccinated she wouldn’t want to allow a negative COVID-19 test as a substitute for proof of vaccination for entry to city hall.
Vice Mayor Ozzy Jimenez, who is vaccinated and has an underlying health condition that puts him at higher risk, echoed Kelley and said he would feel better about requiring vaccination and proof of vaccination for entry. Mitchell and Councilmember David Hagele, both of whom are vaccinated, agreed with their colleagues regarding the vaccine mandate.
Palacios, who was reluctant to divulge her vaccination status, said did not agree with requiring proof of vaccination in order to attend meetings in-person. She noted that while she’s not vaccinated she gets tested weekly for COVID-19.
In a 17-minute long video posted to YouTube a few days after the council’s Nov. 1 decision, Palacios elaborated on why she isn’t vaccinated and shared her feelings about the vaccine and why she wanted to speak up on the matter.
The video sparked a flurry of bitter debate on social media from those for and against the vaccine and from those advocating that one’s own health and the decisions regarding one’s health is their choice alone.
After a tense and difficult hour-long debate on Nov. 15 that called into question the equality of hybrid meetings for those who are unvaccinated, the Healdsburg City Council voted 4-1 to approve hybrid meetings and the city’s proof of vaccination requirement for attending in-person meetings.
Palacios, who called the vaccine requirement exclusionary and equated the hybrid meeting method to the “separate but equal” mindset of segregation, held the dissenting vote.
“If the FDA’s main purpose is to review scientific data for approval of drugs and vaccines and even they cannot be sure that the approved vaccines reduce transmission of the virus after extension research has been analysed, why does anyone else — including our council — think making laws on this assumption is just when these laws are exclusionary. We cannot have certain options for engagement for certain members of the public and not for others. These policies can replicate the Jim Crow era laws of separate but equal. Let us learn from the past and move forward justly,” Palacios said during the Nov. 15 meeting.
During the Nov. 15 public comment session, seven people were in support of Palacios’ stance on requiring vaccination to attend in-person council meetings and echoed her concerns regarding the vaccine mandate, segregation and inequality.
Many of those seven also voiced concerns about Palacios being unfairly segregated from the meetings and many urged that she be allowed to take her seat at the council chambers.
Since the Nov. 15 meeting, the rancor between those for and against the vaccine has been growing.
Local nonprofit organization Corazón Healdsburg received emails as well as a visit to their office questioning their mission statement about equity after the meeting occurred.
In a social media post, Adina Flores asked people to join her in a lawsuit against the Sonoma County Public Health Department for providing misinformation to the community regarding the COVID-19 vaccination.
“Do you want extra money in your pocket?” the post read.
Flores said in an email to SoCoNews prior to the council meeting that she had not obtained an attorney yet. She planned to make a statement during the Dec. 6 city council meeting and said in the email that she hopes her statement will urge the council to allow unvaccinated individuals to attend in-person meetings.
In her statement, Flores questioned the Pfizer vaccine, its use and among other things regarding the vaccine, U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
In part, Flores’ statement states, “The Biden Administration announced on 8/23/2021 that the Pfizer vaccine has received full FDA approval and is now encouraged to be mandated by all employers in the U.S. Councilmember Kelley has previously shared posts on her social media pages which indicate this as well. These statements by our federal government and Ms. Kelley are extremely misleading.”
During the Dec. 6 meeting, Flores and Linda Caid, who identified herself as a Healdsburg resident, spoke in opposition of the vaccine mandate. Several people spoke in favor of the city’s vaccine mandate.
“We support the council’s 4-1 decision to require vaccination for in-person council attendance. Less strict protocols are available, but you chose this one for expressed safety reasons. This is a reasonable public health measure during a pandemic,” said Janis Watkins.
Fitch Mountain resident Dave Henderson said he too approves of the vaccine mandate and said he believes this is the only policy that encourages health.
