According to a report from ABC7, members of the Beverly Hills (CA) Fire Department (BHFD) took part in a protest on Tuesday involving some fiery rhetoric against a mandate from Los Angeles County requiring all health care workers, including paramedics and emergency medical technicians, to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 1.
The firefighters union is fighting the mandate.
The Beverly Hills Firefighters Association posted on Facebook that, although it recommends and encourages members to be vaccinated, it believes it should be left as a personal choice.
One activist at the rally, West Hollywood attorney and antivaccine activist David Hakimfar, was heard saying “make them afraid” at an upcoming event involving children and parents walking to school for National Walk to School Day.
As of Friday, the city noted that 25 of the BHFD’s 97 firefighters have requested exemptions from vaccination for religious or medical reasons; six have been denied exemptions. Of those six, five have since been vaccinated, while one was placed on unpaid leave.
One BHFD firefighter was granted a medical exemption, and 18 others have been granted temporary medical or religious exemptions for 30 days for further review.
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