Burning Man considering mandatory vaccinations for attendees

Burning Man is considering whether to make it mandatory for attendees to have had a coronavirus vaccine.

Organisers had previously said a vaccine would be mandatory but have since backtracked following criticism from fans of the festival and a misunderstanding of Covid-19 guidance in Nevada as The New York Post reports.

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In a vlog earlier this month, Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell wrongly said that Nevada, where Burning Man is held, requires attendees of large events to have had a vaccine.

The idea of a vaccine to enter the festival was also met with outrage from its audience.

A following vlog to the Burning Man site saw Goodell backtrack on the statement, saying that she "misspoke".

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“We are super aware [of concerns] and thank you for your feedback, and we are weighing the gravity of what that does. And we know that [mandatory vaccination] challenges the concepts of radical inclusion, but at this point we kind of look at the ten principals as kind of a body or work, and civic responsibility weighs in there heavily,” Goodell said.

“Health and safety of our gathering of people is the number one priority, period, straight up. So actually requiring vaccines is the way we’re leading with that health and safety plan,” she also said.

A decision on whether Burning Man will go ahead will be made at the end of this month.

If it does go ahead, attendance will be capped at a maximum 69,000, which is 11,000 people lower than usual and could drop further.

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