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- The UK will soon offer COVID-19 vaccinations to 12 to 15-year-olds in schools.
- Anti-vaxxers have been writing threatening letters to teachers in warning of “Nuremberg-style trials.”
- A report found that 79% of schools in England have received emails threatening legal action.
Teachers in London have been receiving threatening letters from anti-vaxxers warning of “Nuremberg-style trials” for those involved in the COVID-19 vaccination program, reports say.
Under the new vaccine program, children between the ages of 12 and 15 will be offered one dose of the Pfizer vaccine at school.
Although teachers are not involved in offering children vaccines, they have borne the brunt of anti-vaxx fury.
A recent survey by the Association of School and College Leaders found that 79% of schools in England have received emails threatening legal action, and 13% have had protesters outside the school.
The headteacher of a prestigious London school told The Evening Standard that they had recently received an 18-page letter which said the British public would demand “Nuremberg-style trials” for those involved in the vaccine program.
The letter, also sent to other schools, falsely compared the vaccine program to a war crime.
Campaigners fear that the threats could lead to school staff quitting their roles.
The news came after Health Secretary Sajid Javid last week criticized anti-vaxx protesters who have been targeting children outside school gates.
Reports have emerged of an anti-vaxx protester accosting an autistic student outside a school in Derbyshire and telling him the vaccine would make him infertile, Schools Week reported.
In a separate incident, students were reportedly shown graphic images of dead and dismembered children.
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told the outlet that he was “increasingly concerned” about anti-vaxx protesters.
He called for “prompt support from the police as necessary.”
The vaccination program for 12-15-year-olds involves first sending consent forms to parents.
However, critics claim that parents who do not want their children to be vaccinated could be overruled because of the “Gillick competence,” The Guardian reported.
The legal ruling says a young person can elect to have medical treatment without parental consent if they are deemed to have sufficient “intelligence, competence, and understanding.”
The Department of Education confirmed that they would make every effort to gain consent from a parent but said that a parent “cannot overrule the decision of a Gillick competent child.”
In September, the UK’s vaccine advisory body said that healthy children should not be offered the vaccine, being at such a low risk from the virus.
However, the UK’s four chief medical officers ultimately decided to recommend vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds to reduce transmission of COVID-19 in schools amid rising cases around the country.
On Thursday, Britain reported over 52,000 new COVID-19 cases- the highest daily amount since July.
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