SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Two weeks after San Diego Unified School District announced a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, a lawsuit has been filed against the district.
"This lawsuit is really to protect families’ choice. We're not taking a stance one way or another on the vaccine," said Sharon McKeeman of Carlsbad.
McKeeman is the founder of Let Them Breathe and their newest initiative Let Them Choose. She says, they're advocating for choice.
"We don't want any families to be coerced into this medical decision and we're very confident that a judge is going to address this in a timely manner because it's obviously a firm deadline that's very urgent."
Jackie has a son in San Diego Unified. She’s against vaccine mandates so much so, that she's now been reassigned by her employer after vaccine mandates were implemented at the hospital where she works.
"I'm a pediatric registered nurse and I've advocated for my patients medical autonomy for years. And even though I'm no longer in the hospital setting, I'll continue to advocate for medical autonomy, especially for our children."
According to the Politico-Harvard Poll from early October, it shows that most adults favor a vaccine mandate for school kids with 54% supporting the move and 45% oppose the idea.
However, a Quinnipiac poll found that 68% of Americans with kids under the age of 18 said, they don't think that students should be required to get vaccinated against the virus. While 30% support the vaccine mandate for kids.
McKeeman says she's advocating for what she thinks is right.
"Vaccinated and unvaccinated standing together for choice. No one should be shamed for wearing a mask or not. Everyone should have the right to vaccinate or mask or unmask or remain unvaccinated."
Andrea Lehmann has kids in San Diego Unified School District and says she supports the vaccine requirement.
“Public health is not an issue of personal choice. And to make choices that endanger your neighbors and your community is not a reasonable choice," said Lehmann. "We've always had vaccine mandates for school and this is no different. I think it's long overdue and I'd like to see it go down to age 12 for everyone who's vaccines are available. We just reached over 6 million pediatric COVID cases in this country. It makes no sense to group together the one group that there's no vaccine for and not put protections around them."
We reached out to San Diego Unified School District for comment on the lawsuit.
They told News 8 that they are unable to comment on pending litigation.
WATCH RELATED: San Diego's top stories for Oct. 13, 2021 at 6 p.m.