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Maribel Duarte said she was shocked and felt her parental consent was violated after finding out that in late October, her son Moises, 13, came home to tell her that he had been bribed into getting a COVID Vaccine—all in exchange for free food.
“They told me to sign my name, and sign your name, and not to tell nobody about this, because she [nurse] can get in trouble,” said Moises when speaking to his mother about the incident. Ms. Duarte went on to explain that she had held off on vaccinating her son due to her son’s current health status and was awaiting the green light from her son’s doctor to proceed with the vaccine.
The LAUSD student allegedly developed side effects from the vaccine
Ms. Duarte, a Hispanic American, has stated that since receiving the vaccine, her son has developed side effects as a result. “It’s really painful—he’s complaining about he’s tired, he just doesn’t feel so good, or he feels compression on his chest. That’s what really concerns me.”
Ms. Duarte—who is fully vaccinated because of local LA mandates that force public workers to get the COVID vaccine—said that she had developed side effects from the COVID shot. “My health has been poor. I feel tired as well. I also feel sometimes like headaches or body aches. I can’t walk normal again, it feels like my body is not normal again after the vaccine.”
Attorney Nicole Pearson has been retained by the family. In an interview with El American, Person said the health of her client’s son is most concerning. “The first step is to make sure that her son gets the proper medical treatment, especially with the Pfizer shot we know that around 14 days after the second shot, (they) can be problematic.” Attorney Pearson stated that the conversations with the school have been fluid and that they are trying to get a full understanding of what transpired, before taking further actions.
As we continued the interview, the attorney stated that this was not the first case of LAUSD students being offered “incentives” in exchange for the vaccine. “The LA Unified School District is running a campaign,” she said. “If you go to LAUSD (.) net, on the website, there’s a whole flyer with images of all the free things that families and students can get if they decide to get vaccinated, that’s called coercion when you try and incentivize and give someone something to motivate them to do something they otherwise wouldn’t have done.”
LAUSD is offering $25k to the school that reaches highest rate of vaccines
Pearson stated that there is an incentive for all LAUSD schools to get all children vaccinated, with a $25,000 grand prize reward to the school that has the highest rate of vaccinated students by the final competition week of January 15, 2022. She says it could also have a negative impact on students and staff to take extraordinary or disingenuous measures to push the vaccines on students or parents who are still weighing the pros and cons and awaiting consultation from their primary healthcare physicians.
Ms. Duarte and her attorney stated that they hope to raise awareness, especially in the LAUSD Hispanic and Spanish-speaking community, encourage parents to ask questions, to check those backpacks for any letters sent home by the school, but most importantly to get more involved with what is happening in their children’s schools
Watch the full interview here.
Anthony Cabassa is a Field Correspondent with El American. Before that he did Independent Journalism for 3+ years informing the Hispanic/Latino community with bilingual news updates and video podcasts. He is also a U.S. Veteran of over 10 years in the Coast Guard. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and 3 children // Anthony Cabassa es Corresponsal de Campo de El American. Antes hizo periodismo independiente durante más de 3 años informando a la comunidad hispana con información bilingüe y pódcasts. También es un veterano de más de 10 años en el Ejército Americano. Vive en Los Ángeles, California, con su esposa y sus tres hijos.