Burning Man festival organizers have said that they are considering requiring attendees to prove they have been vaccinated for COVID-19if the organizers move forward with plans to hold this year’s counter-culture festival in the Nevada desert. The organizers say they won’t decide for sure until the end of the month whether the event that was canceled last year because of the pandemic will take place this summer.
Burning Man CEO Marian Goodell said in a video message posted on the group’s web site on April 8 that “vaccines will be required to come to Burning Man.” She erroneously said at that time that the state of Nevada requires that people have proof of being vaccinated at large gatherings.
She acknowledged last weekend in an updated statement on the group’s web site that she “misspoke.” Citing a backlash from many long-time attendees at the annual event, Goodell clarified that organizers had been formulating their own guidelines on mandatory vaccinations as part of the health and safety plan they must submit to state and county officials. “We are weighing the gravity of what that does,” Goodell said. “And we know that challenges the concept of `radical inclusion.’”
She said civic responsibility is an important part of organizers’ guiding principles but that they realize people in some countries haven’t had access to vaccines, nor have most children.