SAG-AFTRA Members to Convene Against Industry’s Covid Vaccine Mandatory

Updated for more details: A group of SAG-AFTRA members who oppose vaccination in the film and television industries said they will hold a protest rally at union headquarters in Los Angeles on Thursday. Oscar-nominated actress Sally Kirkland, a member of the National Council of the Screen Actors Guild, will be one of the speakers. After Covid restrictions are lifted across the country, protesters say it’s time for Hollywood to lift its mandate.

The Covid-19 safety protocols for the film and television industry, which include a strictly defined “mandatory vaccine” provision, expire Saturday, but could be extended as the protocols have been extended several times since they were first published in September 2020, business permitting. . And products are being restored in the darkest days of the pandemic.

As vaccines became widely available, protocols were modified last July to allow manufacturers to “implement a mandatory vaccination policy for regions and teams in Region A, depending on production.” Zone A, where masked players work, is the most restrictive protocol for safe working areas on sets.

“I don’t think they should have a mandate that requires this vaccine,” Kirkland told Deadline. “I am against the vaccination requirement because I was chronically ill for seven and a half months when I received my second vaccination last year. I was taken to the hospital and thought I had died three times.”

However, such reactions are rare, and the Centers for Disease Control says the benefits of receiving the vaccine far outweigh the risks. According to the CDC, people who get the vaccine are much less likely to be hospitalized or die if they get the virus, but the vaccine does not prevent people from catching the coronavirus. Today, nearly 1 million Americans, the vast majority of whom are unvaccinated, have died from covid-19, with more than 6 million people worldwide dying from the virus.

Kirkland, an outspoken critic of the vaccine, said he received emails from “hundreds of people who have been vaccinated.” Kirkland, who has appeared in 270 movies and TV shows, says he’s “still working all the time.”

Speaking at the protest, Miami-based actor Carlos Guerrero produced a series of videos in which SAG-AFTRA members say they are discriminated against for refusing to be vaccinated. “Facebook, YouTube and other social media outlets regularly follow, remove pages and block popular videos,” Guerrero said.

The protest, scheduled for PT 11, will be broadcast live on Steel Truth, a far-right website that features interviews with conservatives and conspiracy theorists like My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, former General Mike Flynn and Fox.

But Guerrero insists the protest “has nothing political”. “This applies to actors and members of the film industry who are not allowed to work because they have not been vaccinated,” he said.

Last month, Guerrero emailed Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, National Executive Director of SAG-AFTRA, stating that he was against the vaccination order. “What is the point of extending the vaccine contract with vaccine mandates when everyone knows that vaccines do not protect against the spread or spread of the virus?” He wrote. “Why do you and your voters continue this policy when the rest of the country opens the mandates?”

The protocols state that where permitted by law, growers, Zone A workers, and studio teachers may follow a policy that “must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as a condition of employment and/or entry.” . “For persons who cannot be vaccinated due to disability or purely religious belief, practice or belief, the workplace is subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law.”

However, Guerrero told Crabtree-Ireland that many manufacturers “do not accept medical or religious exceptions.” What are you doing to stop discrimination against SAG-AFTRA members, union members who say and want to be protected from discrimination? You should also know that tens of thousands of people are out of work due to an unsafe policy for anyone on set or in the studio. When will the powers be removed?

However, SAG-AFTRA alone cannot circumvent the mandate recognized by many industry associations, including the Motion Picture and Television Producers Association and SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, Teamsters and Basic Crafts.

“A lot of people lost a lot of their jobs because they weren’t vaccinated and weren’t promoted,” said Cascade Lane Levitt, who was expected to speak at the rally.

“All these years, we’ve been paying our bills and insurance so we can keep going when we need more support,” said actor and stuntman Chacha Sandoval-McMahon. “When I see an androgynous statue standing proudly symbolizing our unity, I feel it wrapping a finger around us.”

Pat Antico, former SAG-AFTRA presidential candidate and co-chairman of the union’s fraud and safety committee, will also speak about the protest. “The vaccination mandate has prevented many members from qualifying for work, feeding families, and health benefits,” he said. “While the entire country is exempt from all vaccination requirements, it is unscientific and discriminatory for SAG-AFTRA not to do the same.”