Nationwide Truck Driver COVID-19 Vaccine Protest

Though it might seem like the world has moved on from COVID-19, it still remains a hot topic of discussion. People continue to talk about their fears and concerns about the virus, while others are sharing their experiences and opinions about it. But the most controversial and sensitive talking point right now may be about vaccinations and vaccination status.

From conversations have had with friends, family and peers, vaccination status is taken very seriously and can cause conflict between people. Some people have strong opinions and beliefs that can lead to a heated argument, especially if someone believes otherwise. Some people want to prove their opinion is superior leading to this confrontation.

When it comes to the workforce, businesses and companies differ on their COVID-19 requirements on wearing face masks, social distancing or the status of vaccinations for employees. This brings an uprising of opinions about the requirement of vaccinations and political ideologies within the working class. In some instances, the requirement of vaccinations brought the workflow and production to a halt.

In 2022, protests grew beyond the United States as more people began to go back to work in person; we even saw protests start to happen in countries like Canada and Australia.

On Jan. 28, 2022, truck drivers in Canada blocked the nation's capital of Ottawa in response to the federal mandate of vaccinated cross-border truck drivers. This protest inspired other non-truck drivers to join the protest on behalf of vaccination requirements within society and schools. Over time, it had become an intense protest as grenades and fireworks were being set off, folks had possession of weapons, people started wearing body armor, and police officers were being assaulted.

Canadian police officers arrested 191 protestors and charged 107 others during this event. These charges included obstructing police, disobeying a court order, assault, mischief, possessing a weapon and assaulting a police officer.

This protest had not been a peaceful message; there was a chance military troops could have gotten involved if necessary, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau chose to let it die down with Canada's police involvement. people. It was a five day event that was fairly peaceful as protestors did not damage city infrastructures, harm others, or vandalize local properties.

Due Canada's strict cross border COVID vaccine restrictions, America's economy suffered greatly. The transportation of goods such as snacks, red meat, vegetable oil and a mix of processed fruit and vegetables brought in $360 million in trade per day.

With these losses, supply chain distributions increased their prices for goods sold in America.

Within states in Australia, face masks and vaccination requirements vary as do ours in America. These protests were not exactly proactive in creating change within the vaccination mandates, but it showed that there are individuals who are strongly against the vaccine and have the right to disagree with society's standard viewpoint.

Due to these vaccination disagreements, many