Protest Against Vaccination Requirement
Parents and families gathered in a peaceful protest this morning outside of the DuPage Children’s Museum. The group said they are against the museum’s recent proof of vaccination requirement upon entry for all of those who are eligible to take the vaccine.
“It’s a children’s museum and they do a beautiful job serving children and yet they’re excluding a very large portion of the children that they would stand to serve,” said Ashley Grice, co-organizer of the protest. “And there have been a lot of other facilities in the area that serve children and gone out of their way to make sure that they can still stay safely open for all children. No one’s excluded. And yet this is a voluntary decision that they made and it broke my heart to know that two of my children would be excluded.”
DCM currently requires anyone over the age of five to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In an email statement, the children’s museum said they took this action to help mitigate the spread of COVID among a surge of infections and that “a significant number of our guests are under age 5 and not yet eligible to be vaccinated. CDC recommends that the best way to protect these young children is to ensure all eligible people around them are vaccinated.”
Group’s Message
Grice said her message wasn’t about masks or the vaccine. “I would like people to have access to what they feel makes them comfortable,” said Grice. I just don’t think that anything should be forced and people shouldn’t be excluded from society for holding a different view.”
The museum said it respects diverse opinions and the right for demonstrators to express their views. They also anticipate suspending their policy when infections and hospitalization metrics have declined below Illinois threshold metrics.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
