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She says they told him not to tell her.
By Nia Tipton — Written on Dec 09, 2021
A mom in California is speaking out after her son’s school allegedly vaccinated him without her consent.
Maribel Duarte said that her 13-year-old son had returned home from the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in South Los Angeles with a vaccination card after he received the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The mom of the teen says he was bribed with pizza to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I should have been involved,” Duarte said in an interview with NBC Los Angeles. “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.’”
“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.
The Los Angeles Unified School District’s website has various messages urging parents to vaccinate their children before the start of the new year.
According to the website, any child under the age of 12 should be vaccinated and if they’re not and do not have an exemption by that date, they will have to attend classes virtually.
“Attention families of students aged 12 or older—this is your reminder to get your child vaccinated," the statement reads. "Your first dose must be uploaded into Daily Pass no later than December 19, 2021. Both doses must be uploaded before January 10, 2022!”
It is safe for school-age children to get the vaccine.
The CDC has now approved the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 5-11. Children and teens who are fully vaccinated are able to safely return to pre-pandemic activities.
However, Duarte said she should have been made aware that the school was giving her son the COVID-19 vaccine.
Duarte herself has received the vaccine, but did not want her son to get vaccinated because he’s an asthmatic and suffers from allergies.
“Regarding my son’s health, I am against it. He has problems with asthma and allergy problems,” Duarte said she fears that the vaccine would put him at greater risk of rare but potentially-serious side effects.
While some people with asthma have reported that their asthma symptoms worsened after they received the COVID-19 vaccine, there is no current research that supports the claims.
People with asthma, however, as with other vaccine recipients, may experience temporary expected side effects for 1-2 days after receiving their vaccine dose.
The greater risk is people with moderate-to-severe asthma contracting COVID-19 and having to be hospitalized as the rate is higher among those individuals.
Attorney Jennifer Kennedy, who is closely following the vaccine mandate imposed by the LAUSD, told NBC Los Angeles the problem is that kids in California can't consent to vaccination.
In the U.S., there’s no federal requirement for informed consent relating to vaccination of any kind, according to the CDC.
But, every state has their own rules for parental consent when it comes to their children getting vaccinated.
In almost all California districts, students aged under 18 can only get vaccinated with parental consent, although San Francisco allows children aged 12 and up to decide for themselves.
Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. She covers pop culture, social justice issues, and trending topics. Follow her on Instagram.