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The rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations to schoolchildren in the United Kingdom has opened up a new front in the disinformation war: anti-vax campaigners are now taking their protests to the school gates.
Groups opposed to vaccination have sought to stoke the fears of parents and children by falsely claiming that the vaccines are untested and dangerous.
Last week, a small group of protesters demonstrated outside St. Thomas More Catholic School in the town of Blaydon, near Newcastle in northeastern England, as children entered the school gates.
In a letter posted on the school website, headteacher Jonathan Parkinson said several students had been “deeply upset by the way they were treated and the images they were shown” and that the police had been informed of the school’s concerns.
“We would like to reiterate that the school’s role in this is to host the vaccination team; we have not expressed a view on whether or not children should be vaccinated as this is a decision to be made by families,” he said. “Our priority remains the wellbeing of our students and we are doing our best to support those that are upset.”
David Phillips, headteacher at Chilwell School in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, in central England, told the PA news agency last month that he had contacted the police after his school received “abusive and threatening messages” from anti-vaccination campaigners.
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Pupils have been handed leaflets with disinformation and posters have been put up accusing the school of “treating children like experimental animals,” PA reported.
Anti-vax campaigners also targeted Lytham St Annes High School in Lancashire, northwest England, on September 30, according to local media reports.
Vaccinations were opened up across the UK to healthy children aged 12 to 15 late last month, with each to be offered a single dose of the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine. Many will be offered the shot through a vaccination program in their school, with takeup voluntary.
Parental consent will be sought but some older children may be able to be vaccinated against their parents’ wishes if they are considered mature enough to give informed consent, the government said.
