'Thought It Was My Body, My Choice': Northrop Grumman Employees Protest Vaccine Mandate
HANOVER, Md. (WJZ) -- Fighting for medical freedom, dozens of demonstrators lined up outside Northrop Grumman's BWI location Monday morning with American flags in hand to protest against the company's vaccine mandate.
"I feel mandates in general upon free citizens of this country is unconstitutional and if it starts here, when does it end?" said Michael Drodes.
"Thought it was my body, my choice. Lets go," said Oliva Ravadge.
This comes a week after the company said all workers need to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 8 in line with the federal vaccine mandate.
"We should not be forced to put something in our body that we don't want to and we're going to stand behind that," said Ravadge.
If workers don't get vaccinated, they could lose their jobs and that's not sitting well with some.
"We're not anti-vax. We're not anti-Northup Grumman. We're just pro-choice," said Garth Bonbargen.
Protestors say they just want their voices to be heard and to terminate the mandate.
"We hope that this mandate gets lifted and it turns into our choice as it should have been from the beginning," said Ravadge. "We should not be forced, it should be our choice from the very beginning and our jobs should not be on the line because of it."
A spokesman for Northrop Grumman's told WJZ, "the company remains committed to continuous operations to ensure they deliver on their commitments to its customers."
Another protest is scheduled for next Monday, Oct. 25 near the Sykesville Northrop Grumman location.
