In particular in the democratically governed states of the USA, attempts are made again and again to increase the vaccination pressure on children by stipulating the Covid shot as a requirement for school attendance. However, this strategy is not crowned with success: In Los Angeles, California, the second largest school district in the USA, all students over the age of 12 should have been vaccinated by January 10th in order to be able to attend classroom lessons. However, because over 30,000 students opposed the mandate, the deadline was set on autumn 2022 postponed.
All unvaccinated students should have switched to the online school “City of Angels” – it was doubted that the school would have been able to accept this mass of new students. In addition, it was largely black and Latin American families who remained skeptical of the controversial vaccines and prioritized protecting the health of their offspring. These children would have been disproportionately affected by having to switch to the pedagogically dubious online lessons: a case of discrimination that one cannot allow oneself in left-ruled states. In 2021 alone, the Los Angeles school district had already lost around 40,000 students who dropped out of school or simply disappeared. The compulsory vaccination would have endangered the schooling of tens of thousands more children.
It remains to be seen whether the compulsory vaccination will actually be ready for decision in autumn. Not only schools in Los Angeles are having trouble pushing through their vaccination plans: In Oakland, Calif., 35% of eligible students resisted mandatory vaccination in December, so the deadline was extended to the end of January. In San Diego, also California, the compulsory vaccination announced in September for schoolchildren aged 16 and over has been blocked by a judge. In Portland, Oregon, was about to raise the issue of compulsory vaccination in schools in November, but resistance was so intense that the vote was postponed for six months.
Clear sign: stay strong!
The back rowing of school districts is sharply criticized by advocates for vaccination. After all, it makes it all too clear that imposing coercive measures and interfering with the physical integrity are by no means possible over the heads of those affected. So warned the President of the Beaumont Foundation, Brian Castrucci:
Changing course teaches those who do not want to be vaccinated to stay strong, because if they do so in sufficient numbers, the system will adjust to them.
As a proponent of child vaccinations, Castrucci was by no means positive, but he hits the nail on the head: If enough people take to the barricades, the system is powerless in the end – and has to bow down.
