MONTEREY, Calif.—Approximately 100 people, including hospital staff, their families, and other community members, held a rally in Monterey, California, on Sept. 26 to express their opposition to vaccine mandates. The Oct. 1 deadline is approaching for California health care workers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Hospital staff at the rally shared their stories as to why they choose not to or cannot be vaccinated. Elizabeth Sims, a registered nurse at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (CHOMP), is pregnant and is choosing to remain unvaccinated to protect her unborn child. She recounted her experiences as one of the nurses working the hospital floor when the pandemic first hit. “At the beginning of the pandemic … I was one of the first to volunteer to take COVID patients. Most of the people on my floor did not want to take COVID patients; they declined,” she told The Epoch Times. Sims …