LOS ANGELES (LifeSiteNews) — A Los Angeles public school used free food to make a 13-year-old boy get vaccinated against COVID without parental consent, his mother said.
Maribel Duarte told NBC 4 Los Angeles that her son, a student at Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in South Los Angeles, was given a shot and a vaccination card in exchange for pizza.
“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,’” she said. “It hurt to know he got a shot without my permission, without knowing and without signing any papers for him to get the shot.”
Duarte had refrained from vaccinating her son because of his asthma and allergy problems, she added. “I should have been involved.”
Absolutely appalling.
The government should not be circumventing parents like this.
Parents need to know (and consent) to their child getting the vaccine. https://t.co/aNuUQdsNOw
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 8, 2021
Barack Obama Global Prep Academy has repeatedly advertised food for vaccinated students and families on social media.
“Some parents at that school can’t afford to send their kids to school with snacks,” noted pro-freedom group Reopen California Schools. “It’s likely many kids got the Covid vaccine on campus simply for the free food — with or without parental consent.”
Like most states, California requires parental permission for vaccination of children under 18, though that hasn’t prevented recent reports of minors getting jabbed against their parents’ will.
Last month, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) mandated COVID-19 vaccination for more than 460,000 students 12 and up to attend in-person classes starting January 10, prompting multiple lawsuits.
“The LAUSD does not have the power to add a vaccine to the California school schedule,” attorney Jennifer Kennedy told NBC 4. “You don’t have that legal authority.”
Tens of thousands of students in the majority-minority district still are not vaccinated and could be barred from returning to class in January, Fox News reported.
The LAUSD, which has seen enrollment plummet amid COVID restrictions, also introduced a program to reward kids and their families with prizes, including gift cards, for getting the vaccine. The incentive program, Safe Schools to Safe Steps, offers a $25,000 prize for schools, as well.
COVID-19 poses extremely low risks for nearly all children. Between 0.00–0.03 percent of child COVID cases in the United States have resulted in deaths, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), while 0.1–1.9 percent have led to hospitalizations.
In Germany, zero healthy children between the ages of 5 and 18 died during the first 15 months of the virus, according to a study published last week.
At same time, numerous deaths and serious injuries, including heart inflammation and other cardiac issues, have been reported in children and adolescents soon after COVID vaccination. In Sonoma County, California, a 15-year-old boy with no underlying conditions died of stress cardiomyopathy earlier this year just two days after his second dose of the Pfizer jab.