SOUTH BURLINGTON — It was the first protest Catherine Connolly had been to in a long time.
The 65-year-old had joined counterprotests decades ago, she said, when antiwar activists in Burlington demonstrated outside the former General Electric Co. plant on Pine Street. As the antiwar crowd handed ice cream to the workers who manufactured weapons at the site, Connolly recalled, she and her group gave out American flags.
On Saturday afternoon, Connolly once again found herself in the middle of a protest, holding an American flag. But as the wind whipped across the Williston Road bridge over Interstate 89, she talked about the conversion — getting “red-pilled,” as she jokingly called it — that has led her to distrust government health advisories, mainstream media and even the Republican Party.
While Connolly believed these things, the group she joined on Saturday was by no means a monolith. Protesters who spoke to VTDigger confessed differing opinions on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the legality of abortion.
What united them, however, was the aim of their protest: To speak out against government-enforced restrictions on people who are not vaccinated against Covid-19, and to extol what they called “medical freedom.”
“People are frustrated. They’re tired,” Swanton resident Gary Pouliot said between puffs on a tobacco pipe.
The protest — which has been going on with at least one attendee every day this week — attracted roughly 50 people to one of the busiest intersections in Vermont. Holding signs that derided the efficacy and safety of vaccines, the demonstrators garnered plenty of honks (and not a few middle fingers) from passing cars.
Protesters said they heard about the event through social media groups created to criticize vaccine mandates. In the groups, they said, participants share content that casts doubt on the safety of the vaccines. During the protest, Connolly and another attendee, Grand Isle resident Lou Klein, bonded over their appreciation for the anti-vaccine podcast The X22 Report.
On the bridge, the unrelenting wind brought a chill to the otherwise mild afternoon. While a boon for the dozens of Canadian, American and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags that lined both sides of the overpass, the gale was a nuisance for Pouliot as he attempted to light his pipe.
Pouliot, a former trucker who is barred from the country just north of his town because he is unvaccinated, told VTDigger he wants towns and cities around the state to rescind their mask mandates.
At the onset of the pandemic, Pouliot said, he and his wife wore a mask inside stores and other businesses. But soon they began to wear them below their noses and mouths. Then, not at all.
“To me, it’s all about control,” he said.
Pouliot, 72, was hesitant to describe Saturday’s event as a “protest,” calling it a harsh word. “People get the wrong impression. We’re out here showing our support,” he said.
That support, according to protesters interviewed by VTDigger, was for the scores of Canadian truckers who — in objection to requirements that they get vaccinated against Covid-19 to enter the U.S. — blocked several border crossings this week.
After strong warnings against the protests, Canadian authorities had largely cleared the blockages by Sunday morning, according to The Washington Post.
On the other side of the border, however, some politicians welcomed Americans to imitate the Canadian protests. In a Thursday interview, Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky embraced rumblings that some truckers might “clog things up” at this weekend’s Super Bowl game in Los Angeles.
In South Burlington, the only trucks that joined the demonstration were ones that blared their horns while passing by on Williston Road or the interstate. Demonstrators said they’d heard talk of organizing a convoy to Washington, D.C., yet none who spoke to VTDigger said they planned to participate.
While they stood united against vaccine mandates, not all of the protesters were unvaccinated. Cheryl Titus, 61, of Milton, said she got inoculated in order to keep her job at an assisted living facility. Her decision, Titus said, was driven by the desire to continue working with the facility’s residents.
“That’s my family,” she said of the residents.
When she did get vaccinated, side effects from the shot gave her a fever and sapped her strength for days, Titus said, further undermining her trust in the safety of the drugs.
That experience, combined with her belief that vaccine mandates infringe on Americans’ civil liberties, brought her to the bridge Saturday, where she stood quietly waving a miniature American flag.
“All my life, I’ve been proud of the fact that America has choice,” Titus said.
Connolly — who appeared to enjoy her first protest since the 1980s — also pointed to American ideals as a reason to abandon vaccine mandates.
“Back in the ’60s, we were all about questioning authority. Now we’re not allowed to question authority?” she told VTDigger.
“I’m against medical tyranny,” Connolly said. “They’ll have to take me kicking and screaming to get vaccinated.”
