Maribel Duarte
told KNBC-TV that her 13-year-old son received a COVID-19 vaccine without her consent at the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in south Los Angeles.
And it was in exchange for pizza, Durate added to the station.
“The lady that gave him the shot and signed the paper told my son, ‘Please don’t say anything. I don’t want to get in trouble,'” the mom also told KNBC.
She even showed the station a vaccine card that shows her son accepted the COVID-19 vaccine at the school.
Image source: KNBC-TV video screenshot
What do school district officials have to say?
KNBC reported that the Los Angeles Unified School District said student affairs are confidential and wouldn’t comment specifically on the matter, but the district noted that its “safe schools to safe steps incentive program” is designed to get steps in place for vaccinated students to receive prizes.
A reporter with the station added that a school administrator told him the mother’s claim isn’t true and that “more often than not parents will lie about the whole vaccine issue.”
LAUSD mandated a Jan. 10 vaccination deadline for all students who are 12 years of age and older — and those who don’t get vaccinated by then and don’t have a legal exemption will be forced into virtual, online learning, KNBC said.
Image source: KNBC-TV video screenshot
The district added to the station that as of the Thanksgiving break, 80% of eligible students at Obama Prep have been vaccinated.
Not anti-vax
Duarte told KNBC she’s not against the COVID-19 vaccines — in fact, she’s been vaccinated herself.
But it’s a different story with her son, as Duarte told the station he has “asthma and allergy problems.”
“It hurt to know he got a shot without my permission, without [me] knowing and without signing [me] any papers for him to get the shot,” she noted to KNBC.
Jennifer Kennedy — an attorney who’s closely monitoring two cases against LAUSD over the vaccine mandate — told the station California minors can’t consent to vaccination.
“The LAUSD does not have the power to add a vaccine to the California school schedule,” Kennedy told KNBC. “You couldn’t do it if you were a podunk school district, and you can’t do it if you’re LAUSD, the second-largest district in the nation. You don’t have that legal authority.”
Both Kennedy and Duarte are seeking an end to the mandate, the station said.
Anything else?
The Los Angeles school district has made its share of headlines of late, particularly in regard to its stance on vaccines. In fact, last month the LAUSD requirement that students who want to play sports be fully vaccinated went into effect — and forced Crenshaw High School’s iconic football team to cut its season short on the eve of the playoffs since it no longer could field enough players.
And in February the district’s school board unanimously approved a plan to cut one-third of its school police and divert millions in funding toward hiring social workers, restorative justice advisers, and “climate coaches.”