A mobile vaccination event in Georgia was reportedly shut down because anti-vax protesters were harassing workers


Anti-vaccination protesters have disrupted several vaccination drives in Georgia, and even forced one to shut down, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
Aides to Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state's top health official, also described how public health staff "have been harassed, yelled at, threatened and demeaned by some of the very members of the public they were trying to help." In one county, protesters used social media to identify public health employees and "[harangue] them with messages of hostility and misinformation about vaccines," writes the Journal-Constitution.
A mobile event in north Georgia was canceled after an "organized group" of anti-vaxxers arrived to bother and name-call those running the drive. "Aside from feeling threatened themselves, staff realized no one would want to come to that location for a vaccination under those circumstances, so they packed up and left," said Nancy Nydam, Toomey's spokesperson.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Toomey herself said that such threats "come with the territory" of someone with her job, but "it shouldn't be happening to those nurses who are working to try to keep this state safe." Read more at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
October 13 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Monday's political cartoons include Donald Trump's consolation prize, government workers during shutdown, and more
-
Can Gaza momentum help end the war in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Zelenskyy’s request for long-range Tomahawk missiles hints at ‘warming relations’ between Ukraine and US
-
The Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners being released
The Explainer Triumphant Donald Trump addresses the Israeli parliament as families on both sides of the Gaza war reunite with their loved ones
-
FDA OKs generic abortion pill, riling the right
Speed Read The drug in question is a generic version of mifepristone, used to carry out two-thirds of US abortions
-
The new Stratus Covid strain – and why it’s on the rise
The Explainer ‘No evidence’ new variant is more dangerous or that vaccines won’t work against it, say UK health experts
-
RFK Jr. vaccine panel advises restricting MMRV shot
Speed Read The committee voted to restrict access to a childhood vaccine against chickenpox
-
Texas declares end to measles outbreak
Speed Read The vaccine-preventable disease is still spreading in neighboring states, Mexico and Canada
-
RFK Jr. shuts down mRNA vaccine funding at agency
Speed Read The decision canceled or modified 22 projects, primarily for work on vaccines and therapeutics for respiratory viruses
-
Measles cases surge to 33-year high
Speed Read The infection was declared eliminated from the US in 2000 but has seen a resurgence amid vaccine hesitancy
-
Kennedy's vaccine panel signals skepticism, change
Speed Read RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board intends to make changes to the decades-old US immunization system
-
Kennedy ousts entire CDC vaccine advisory panel
speed read Health Secretary RFK Jr. is a longtime anti-vaccine activist who has criticized the panel of experts