Jill Schramm/MDN Jewell Hamilton, an employee at the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center, right, holds a “Freedom” sign Saturday at a protest outside the center with other local residents opposed to vaccine mandates, holding signs such as “I call the shots,” “Stop the mandates” and “I support medical freedom.”

More than 20 people carrying signs in protest of COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandates gathered outside the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center Saturday.

Local residents joined some center employees in objecting to employer requirements for COVID-19 vaccination and testing.

Job Corps is among various federally supported agencies implementing a requirement that employees must be vaccinated or submit to testing every 72 hours. The requirement took effect Sept. 1.

Organizer Jewell Hamilton, a Job Corps employee, said in a statement provided at the event that the protest is not against COVID-19 vaccination but in support of freedom of choice regarding whether to take the vaccine.

“I stand here together with others as one voice in peaceful assembly and protest against unconstitutional mandates that are threatening our military servicemen with dishonorable discharge, creating a shortage of medical staff, creating economic hardship for federal contractors and employees, airline personnel, oilfield employees and employees of other large corporations and small businesses who dare to exercise their constitutional rights to say no to experimental COVID-19 vaccinations,” she stated.

The statement noted that the Johnson and Johnson and Moderna vaccines have only emergency approval from the Food and Drug Administration, while the fully approved Comirnaty vaccine is the same as the previously emergency-approved Pfizer vaccine.

Each of the vaccines have thousands of reported adverse reactions, including death, according to Hamilton’s statement.

Protesters carried signs with messages such as “I have a right to say no,” “I support medical freedom,” “I call the shots for my body,” “Forced vaccines are against civil rights” and “Medical violation is criminal.”

Hamilton said in her statement that employees are protected under the Nuremberg Code, which provides for informed consent in medical experiments.

COVID-19 testing as a condition of employment is a violation of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, she added. GINA prohibits the use of genetic information in employment decisions and prohibits employers from requesting or requiring genetic information.

The consequences for those who refuse to comply with unconstitutional, mandatory vaccination requirements creates medical segregation, in violation of the Civil Rights Act, she said.

Hamilton’s statement called on elected leaders to take action to protect people’s constitutional rights. State Rep. Oley Larsen, R-Minot, stopped by the protest to talk with members of the group.

The Minot Daily News reached out to Job Corps’ head office last week but has not yet received a response.