A California school allegedly vaccinated a young boy without his parents’ consent and instructed him not to tell anyone in exchange for pizza, according to a local report.
Maribel Duarte, the boy’s mother, told NBC Los Angeles on Monday that her son recently came home from Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in Los Angeles with a vaccine card, telling her he was vaccinated against COVID-19 after educators offered him pizza.
The educator who gave him the shot allegedly told him, “Please don’t say anything. I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“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 said, noting that she herself is vaccinated.
“He has problems with asthma and allergy problems,” she said, which is why she did not want to get him vaccinated in the first place.
The school district refused to confirm the mother’s story but admitted that it does have an incentive program that offers prizes to vaccinated students.
“With the Jan. 10, 2022, student vaccination deadline approaching, the District introduced the Safe Schools to Safe Steps Incentive Program throughout Los Angeles Unified Schools,” a spokesperson for the school district said. “This program offers incentives to families who upload proof of their vaccine, have an approved medical exemption, or have conditional admissions.”
The Los Angeles school district rolled out a vaccine mandate for all students 12-years-old or older last month, saying that all students who do not get the jab will be banned from in-person learning and forced to attend school virtually.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also rolled out his own school vaccine mandate, ordering all schoolchildren eligible for the COVID-19 shots to get one.
“The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella — there’s no reason why we shouldn’t do the samme for COVID-19,” Newsom said in a statement.
