Last Updated on July 27, 2022
A California school district has received a lawsuit from a family who claims their 13-year-old son was bribed into receiving a COVID-19 vaccination on school grounds, without parental consent.
Maribel Duarte, the mother of the student, said her child is suffering side effects from the vaccine after Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) faculty coerced him into taking the shot last year.
“He is not the same anymore. He is lacking rest. He doesn’t sleep well. He’s not normal to me,” Duarte stated at a news conference Wednesday.
Duarte’s lawsuit contests the minor child was offered pizza in exchange for receiving the vaccine.
The child attends Barack Obama Preparation Academy in South Los Angeles.
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According to the lawsuit, the child was asked to forge his mother’s signature to receive the vaccine.
Duarte’s attorneys have reaffirmed this lawsuit is about parental rights. “This is not a conspiracy theory. This is not an anti-vax case. This is about parental rights (and) about having the ability to protect your children,” attorney Nicole Pearson said.
Duarte explained in December that she has received the COVID vaccine herself but did not want her son to receive it since “he has problems with asthma and allergy problems.”
According to KTLA, a local news station, the 13-year-old child suffers from asthma and a bleeding disorder and the child’s doctor advised against receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.
“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 commented in December.
Speaking with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, Duarte claimed her child told her that “the lady that was giving him the shot was the one that told him to put his name on the paper and to sign my name.”
LAUSD initiated a vaccine mandate for in-person students over the age of 12 last year.
Stay tuned to National File for any updates.