LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest school district in the United States, is facing a lawsuit from a family. A mother says her 13-year-old son was bribed to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at school without her consent.
Maribel Duarte, who is suing the Los Angeles Unified School District, held a press conference on July 27 with her attorney to complain about the side effects her son is currently suffering from the vaccine.
“This is painful for me, because my son’s health … it’s not good,” Duarte said. “He’s lacking the rest. He doesn’t sleep well. He doesn’t exercise the way he did. He’s not normal to me.”
Duarte added that her son has had bleeding disorders and asthma since he was a child, so doctors recommended against him receiving a COVID-19 vaccine. She said her son’s condition worsened after getting a vaccine, with breathing difficulties and other symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
All of this happened without the school’s initial consent, according to Duarte.
California state law prohibits minors between the ages of 12 and 17 from receiving vaccinations other than those required by law without the consent of a parent or guardian.
The 13-year-old boy attends Barack Obama Global Preparation Academy, which is under the jurisdiction of the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Bribed With Pizza
Duarte said someone bribed her son with pizza to get a vaccine at a school vaccination event and had her son forge her signature to sign the consent form.
“He came home, and I remember asking him, ‘how was your day?’ He said, ‘Mom, I got a shot today, COVID shot.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Yeah. They offered me pizza,’” Duarte recollected.
“And they also had him sign a consent in front of them, which one of the ladies told him to sign my name and sign his name.”
Nicole Pearson, Duarte’s attorney, said at the press conference: “This is not a conspiracy theory. This is not an anti-vax case.”
By Linda Jiang
