Beijing officials refuted an online rumor about a K-12 COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but parents said schools and hospitals were pressured to comply and that such compliance helped to speed up the promotion of officials.
On Feb. 13, a Beijing education regulator said that the public misunderstood the school COVID vaccination program, and dismissed rumors that schools are forcing the COVID vaccine on kids if they want to attend school in the next semester, and that unvaccinated children must present proof of nucleic acid testing every 48 hours to be allowed in the school.
The officials’ clarification came after its website was flooded with parents’ comments objecting to the recent school regulations that teachers had given orally.
Mr. Li, a Beijing resident, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the regulator actually convened a meeting on Feb. 8 to deliver relevant decisions and information, off the record, to school principals and teachers, who will then convey them to parents.
Unvaccinated Kids Are Discriminated Against
According to Mr. Yan, a parent in Beijing, during the meeting, the regulator warned that those who fail the task will be “disciplined right on the spot by standing in front of the staff and giving a self-criticism, and school fundings are subject to withdrawal.” Subsequently, a kindergarten director received such treatment and was furious, Yan explained.Li rejected the idea of vaccination of his sixth-grader, who suffered a convulsion after being vaccinated when he was a baby.
He said that unvaccinated students were mistreated by the school staff. Some were deprived of their honorary titles in the class, some were individually isolated at school, some were forbidden from going to school, while some parents were harassed by their employers.
He said that many of his acquaintances have developed serious side effects from the COVID vaccine: People who used to work out regularly became weak and were put on bed rest for a couple of weeks; a friend nearly lost her eyesight; and many female coworkers complained about abnormal menstrual bleeding.
He’s determined to prevent his child from being vaccinated. He visited many doctors to get a medical exemption for his child, but to no avail. Through a connection, he learned that hospital directors have issued a warning to doctors that those who give medical waiver forms will be fired.
In order to resolve the forced vaccination problem, Li tried to draw attention through his Weibo account, and contacted a media reporter. The reporter turned down Li’s request saying that making the report would cost him his job.
His Weibo post also drew the censors’ attention. His account was quickly blocked, and the police phoned him on Feb. 13.
Li said that his complaint was legitimate, “Who can tolerate this nucleic acid test every 48 hours?”
Complaints Go Nowhere
Ms. Wang has a primary school child, who has had asthma since the age of 6. She insisted that her child not be vaccinated.She tried to complain to the education regulator, the Municipal Education Commission. She said, “We want our children to go to school like those who were vaccinated, and not be treated differently.” But, she hasn’t received a response from the Commission.
She told The Epoch Times, “I am a parent, I should have the right to decide whether my child should be vaccinated or not, regardless of the child’s pre-existing conditions.” Moreover, she’s more concerned with a 9-year-old going to the hospital every day for a test.
She also explained that after the injection, both she and her mother developed serious adverse reactions, which took 30 days and 50 days respectively for the heavy coughing to end.
She said, “We can’t confirm it’s caused by vaccination, but it really happened about a week after the vaccination. So, I didn’t get the third shot after that.”
Yan also refused to vaccinate his kindergartener for fear of it causing an adverse reaction.
Yan said that it’s the Commission’s self-deceiving act, “I don’t know which rumors can be refuted.”
Yan indicated that the forced vaccination program at school was a task directed by the Beijing Municipal Finance Bureau and Beijing Municipal Health Commission, according to insider information.
He said, “They stocked up on vaccines at the wholesale price, …and earned the difference from the sale price.”
He said he’s taken the vaccines as demanded, but rather than force it on his child, he’s “ready to fight.”
Parents Refute Commission’s Claim
Parent opposition to compulsory vaccination for schooling has surged in various districts of Beijing. Even though the Commission claimed there was a misunderstanding, the parents obviously didn’t accept the explanation.Yan said that after the Commission’s clarification, the school backed down and said, “Come back to school, there’s no need to be tested.”
A parent wrote on Weibo, “How can it be a rumor from the self-media? It is clearly a decision of your internal meeting. Without the endorsement of the authorities, would schools and kindergartens dare to threaten parents?”
Li said the Commission was trying to shirk off its responsibility. He questioned how so many districts, schools, and parents could have misread the guideline.
An insider at the Commission, a friend of Li’s, explained the reason behind the task: “A superior at the Commission was seeking a higher post by copying practices in Shanghai—a 100 percent vaccination rate—[and using it as] a political performance,” the insider told Li.
The insider also revealed that Hefei City had tried to copy Shanghai’s practices, but Shanghai had already failed to enforce the mandate due to parent opposition, and Hefei also failed after the parents’ objected.
Li is concerned that some schools and departments are indeed striving for political achievement by enforcing the unpublished policy, especially some private kindergartens.
However, certain schools and kindergartens are exempt, because they have admitted children of Party committee members of various ministries and commissions of the state and municipalities.
Li said there are parents who said that their children didn’t receive the mandatory vaccination order, and his response to them is always, “Does your school admit more kids of the security, the commission, and the power sector?”
There is a rumor circulating that “when the new semester starts, the unvaccinated kids will be grouped into one class,” Li said.
The Chinese schools open on Feb. 21.
