Vaccine clinic in school closed by right-wing vandalism campaign

A Colorado school district says it will not allow children to be vaccinated on its premises after a parent campaign to vandalize the school clinic culminated in a viral video on right-wing Twitter. .

Gregg McGough, the father of a 15-year-old high school student, shared a video showing his son trying to get vaccinated at school by lying about his age and providing a fake note about his passing. parental consent. McGough Talk to Colorado Sun that his goal in sharing the video was to close the immunization clinic at Littleton Public Schools and prevent other clinics from cropping up in the school in the future, ostensibly by showing that students could receive injections just by forging notes from their parents.

In addition to a video showing McGough’s son, Owen, apparently misleading the vaccine officers, a second video soon surfaced showing another student pseudo-name, “Draper Ensling” and giving out fake date of birth.

In one interview to Fox News, Owen McGough said he was behind the videos and that he worked with another student to address requests to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine from a clinic held at the High School. Legacy “without much effort”.

“They really don’t check the facts,” says Owen McGough.

McGough’s father did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Saturday but he defended the videos. in a Facebook postcalling it “disturbing and criminal” when kids have come so close to getting vaccinated — while emphasizing that any school district that allows the Tri-District Health Department to provide vaccines in School campuses are all “putting your child at risk.”

“This is a tacit and indoctrinated treatment that allows children to make medical decisions without parental consent or even being present,” he writes. “I see this as a disgusting act of radicalization on the part of LPSD.”

When asked by Fox News what motivated him to make the video, Owen McGough replied, “I just don’t like seeing vaccine clinics being put into schools.”

“Bringing vaccination clinics into schools also introduces politics into schools, and creates an opportunity for social pressure from other students, teachers and administrative staff to vaccinate and even ignoring parental consent,” he said.

The pair of videos created fury among vaccine opponents after appearing on the far right Twitter account “Libs of Tik Tok” as an example of how easily children can circumvent vaccines. rules to get the shot. The group posted the clip claiming that the video was recorded during class and shows a 16-year-old boy “lie about his age” to nurses, who agreed to vaccinate him. without asking for your identification.

A similar video of another student in the district lying about his age to get vaccinated without parental consent also appeared on the Libs of TikTok Twitter account.

Neither video shows the student getting vaccinated, but the response was swift after McGough sent a letter requesting “immediate halt to LPS allowing Tri-County County Health Department vaccine clinics” to operate. inside Littleton Public Schools. ”

In an email to Littleton Public Schools Superintendent Brian Ewert, published on the Libs of Tik Tok Twitter account, parents detailed the bids of two 15- and 16-year-olds to see if they could vaccinated by misleading vaccination personnel.

“The district has been informed of problems with pushing vaccines to minors in schools,” he said.

McGough said he has been assured by the director that the vaccine will require parental permission and the presence of a guardian for all injections, but he has touted the children’s “experiment” as a proof that is not so.

“Director Ewert was wrong, and is now being told about it,” he wrote, noting that after providing misinformation, the children were “ready to inject drugs and encouraged to take them.”

“Since there have been serious side effects in the minors when these pictures were taken, including severe cases of myocarditis, real physical harm could have occurred,” he wrote. “.

Neither child was vaccinated, as McGough confirmed.

A day after the email was posted on Twitter and had attracted thousands of likes, Ewert notice in a letter told parents on Tuesday that the district will no longer be providing vaccines in its facilities.

Ewert said the school district mistakenly assumed that immunization clinics would follow a practice at Children’s Hospital that required parents to be present at the time of vaccination.

Tri-County Health, which operates the clinic with staff from a contractor with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment, told school officials that Colorado does not require parents to accompany children to schools. vaccination appointment as long as parental consent is obtained prior to the appointment, according to Ewert.

“Despite that, we do not believe that Jogan Health staff followed the proper process of obtaining parental consent, which could put children at risk,” Ewert wrote. “Please note that LPS does not allow the use of COVID vaccines or any other vaccines for minors without parental consent.”

The Daily Beast could not immediately reach Ewert for comment on Saturday.

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment told Colorado Sun The videos were made to thwart immunization efforts in schools, which is “an important way for the state to ensure access to a COVID-19 vaccine in convenient places.”

Becky O’Guin, a spokeswoman for Tri-County Health, defended vaccine workers, told Colorado Sun that these videos make it more difficult for people who are eligible to receive vaccines.

“Our assessment is that state procedures appear to have been followed in assessing the appropriateness of vaccination,” she told the outlet. The videos are “hurting people in our community who want and need easier access to vaccines for themselves and their children and will now have to find a place,” she said. other vaccination sites”.