'Heil Fauci!': Vaccine Passports Compared to Nazis in California Public Hearing

Tensions ran high at a San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting where dozens of people lashed out at mask and vaccine mandates, with some comparing the efforts to Nazism.

More than 100 people spoke during a heated 4 hour and 30 minutes public hearing on Tuesday where residents commented on proposed mandates for masking and proof of vaccination or testing.

The lengthy supervisors board meeting saw numerous emotional remarks against the board's support of mandates that would require citizens to wear a face mask in public, and proof of having taken the vaccine or weekly tests at workplaces including school districts and health care facilities.

The officially non-partisan board has powers to oversee health matters in the county, as well as numerous other areas that affect life in the San Diego area.

At several points, Chair Nathan Fletcher had to intervene in a bid to restore calm as tensions erupted. Matt Baker, from Ocean Beach, had among the more vocal responses to the mandates supported by the board.

Wearing a lime-green T-shirt with a picture of the Statue of Liberty wearing a face mask with the word "slave" on it, Baker railed against the board in a fiery speech where he compared the mandates to Nazis.

Shouting and becoming red-faced, Baker commented: "You're about to open a pit of hell. You do not get a vaccine passport put on us. You know as the population who is in control, you know that the people as the politicians, once you get a power—you will never relinquish it. Do you think the four feet of marble that holds you above high in this chamber will help you from the fate of humanity, which you are unleashing?"

He continued, screaming: "No. It won't. Your children and your children's children will be subjugated. And they'll be asked: 'How many vaccines have you had. Have you been a good little Nazi?"

Baker then referred to top virologist and advisor to President Joe Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, adding: "Heil Fauci, Heil Fauci."

John Wiles, a local resident, also attacked the board's support for the mandates and added: "You guys are creating a two-tiered system of medical apartheid. This is tyranny, a vaccine passport is tyranny, facemasks don't work, you are harming our children."

According to The San Diego Tribune, the strongest rebuttal of the large anti-mandate group came from Kevin Stevenson from Escondido.

Stevenson said: "These people are unhinged maniacs who are going to get us all killed."

Vaccine requirements in California only apply to health care workers, while mask mandates are in place in schools and other medical facilities.

Frequent testing is offered as an alternative to vaccination by numerous businesses in San Diego and mandates are recommendations.

Activists in the state have pushed back against the mandate, with religious exemption letters being offered to people who do not want to get the vaccine.

Pastor Greg Fairrington of Destiny Christian Church, in Rocklin, has offered exemption letters to churchgoers and is set to do so again this Sunday.

In an August 12 statement posted on Instagram, Fairrington said the forms had been "approved by our legal counsel."