A crowd of teachers, parents and schoolchildren from Staten Island protested against potential mandatory COVID-19 vaccines, despite there being no current plan to introduce one. 

Around 50 people gathered outside The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) holding placards saying 'say no to tyranny', 'mandates violate human rights' and chanting 'my body, my choice', a slogan from the anti-abortion movement.  

There is currently no mandate to force students and teachers in Staten Island to take the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines being rolled out across the US.

Members of the group said they are not 'anti-vax' but that as Americans they 'have the right to choose'.

They claim the protest was a warning shot to UFT president Michael Mulgrew to fight mandatory vaccination, if it emerges in the future.   

The protest follows a bill introduced in New York by Assembly member Linda Rosenthal, who represents parts of Manhattan's West Side, on December 4, to start mandatory vaccinations if enough 'science deniers' refuse the shot and keep the population from so-called 'herd immunity'. 

A COVID-19 vaccine for children is still months away, with Pfizer testing in children 12 and older.