A private school in Miami, Florida, that announced earlier this year it would not employ teachers who receive a COVID-19 vaccine now says that any student who gets vaccinated must stay home for 30 days after each shot.
Centner Academy’s chief operating officer told parents in a letter that “if you are considering the vaccine for your Centner Academy student(s), we ask that you hold off until the Summer when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease.”
The letter informed parents that students who receive a COVID-19 vaccine dose must quarantine, WSVN-TV reported.
“Because of the potential impact on other students and our school community, vaccinated students will need to stay at home for 30 days post-vaccination for each dose and booster they receive and may return to school after 30 days as long as the student is healthy and symptom-free,” the letter stated.
The reasons given by the school, as reported by WSVN, have to do with concerns over potential vaccine side effects and fears that vaccinated students may spread the virus to the unvaccinated.
These fears are unfounded, according to the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, which explains that the three COVID-19 vaccines authorized for use in the United States are incapable of shedding the virus onto others.
“Vaccine shedding is the term used to describe the release or discharge of any of the vaccine components in or outside of the body. Vaccine shedding can only occur when a vaccine contains a weakened version of the virus,” the CDC says. “None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus. mRNA and viral vector vaccines are the two types of currently authorized COVID-19 vaccines available.”
In comments made to the Washington Post, school co-founder David Centner said the policy was a “precautionary measure” based on “numerous anecdotal cases that have been in circulation.”
“The school is not opining as to whether unexplained phenomena have a basis in fact, however we prefer to err on the side of caution when making decisions that impact the health of the school community,” Centner said.
Back in April, the Centner Academy made national headlines for refusing to employ “anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection.” The school asked current employees to hold off receiving the vaccine until more information was known about their potential side effects.
The controversial policy drew criticism from both Florida Republicans and Democrats, as well as health experts who accused Centner’s wife and school co-founder Leila Centner of making false claims about the vaccines.