It was supposed to be a show of strength for the anti-vaccine movement. Two years into a gruelling and deadly pandemic, at a time when opposition to vaccines and vaccine mandates have become a national political issue, more than 20,000 were expected to line up before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC to hear from prominent vaccine sceptics, doctors, bloggers, podcasters and personalities. It was supposed to be a coming-out party for an idea that has for years threatened to break through into the mainstream.
In the end, though, only a few thousand turned up to ‘Defeat the Mandates’ – a reference to vaccine mandates implemented by the Biden administration to protect against Covid-19. Several thousand, coincidentally, is the number of Americans who are dying each day from the virus. It was just enough of a crowd to reach the bottom of the steps upon which Lincoln is perched. A long row of underutilised porta-potties that lined the National Mall spoke to the unmet aspiration of the day.
