Protestors met at the Victory Memorial Gardens on Saturday morning before walking down both sides of Baylis Street with signs, chanting slogans such as "my body, my choice", and meeting back in the park to hear from a number of speakers.

One of the organisers, a Wagga-based farmer who didn't want to provide her full name, insisted that the protest was not against the COVID-19 vaccine itself but about the 'freedom for people to choose what goes in their body'.

The COVID-19 vaccine has been mandated for workers in a number of professions and industries, such as healthcare and teaching. Currently 93.3 per cent of NSW residents aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated, and 78 per cent of those aged 12 to 15.

The organiser is not facing any workplace vaccine mandate herself, but said she joined the 'Unite for the right to choose' committee after hearing of teachers and healthcare workers who were let go after declining the vaccine.

All NSW Health staff were required to be fully vaccinated against the virus by November 30 to remain working, as per the state government Public Health Order. Education and care workers are also subject to a vaccination mandate.

The organiser of Saturday's rally argues that politicians and the mainstream media are censoring adverse reactions to the COVID vaccine, and alternative treatment methods.

The Therapeutic Goods Association publishes a safety report on the vaccine each week, reporting on any adverse effects of the vaccine that have been recorded across the country.

As of December 12, adverse effects are reported at a rate of 2.3 per 1000 doses. The most frequently reported include injection-site reactions, such as a sore arm, and more general symptoms like a headache, muscle pain, fever and chills.

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Speakers at Saturday's rally included former army lieutenant-colonel and political aspirant Riccardo Bosi, leader of the AustraliaOne party, and Tumut paramedic John Larter, who was unsuccessful in his bid to overturn the mandatory vaccination order for healthcare workers via the Supreme Court.

A spokesperson for NSW Police said that the protest was conducted in a peaceful manner, with no incidents to report or any arrests made.

The rally took place on the same day the state reached a record number of daily cases.

Across New South Wales on Saturday 2,482 new COVID-19 cases were reported from 137,149 tests, including 13 new cases in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District.

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