FLINT, MI - Officials say children at schools where the Genesee County Health Department could operate COVID-19 vaccinations sites would not be vaccinated without written permission from a parent and the parent would have to be present at the site with their child.
Additionally, the first COVID-19 vaccines scheduled to be distributed in Genesee County are currently only approved for people 18 years old and older, according to a Thursday, Dec. 10 health department news release.
Health officials and local school districts are explaining their plan after some recent social media posts claim children could be vaccinated at school without parental consent.
The group Informed Choice of Michigan is urging parents not to send their children to school if their child’s district allows the Genesee County Health Department to have a vaccination site on school grounds.
Informed Choice of Michigan is a state chapter in alliance with Informed Choice USA. The group says it works to “fight for medical freedom in Michigan and the right to true informed consent.”
The health department and partner districts say claims of “implied” consent being used at sites rather than written consent are false. The partnership means the health department can work with the district to use district property for COVID-19 vaccination point-of-distribution sites.
Minors would not be vaccinated without a parent present and granting permission, Suzanne Cupal, a county Health Department spokeswoman, said Thursday, Dec, 10. Any claim otherwise is misleading.
“There’s a process that happens and, clearly, adults would come with their minor children in order to get those immunizations,” Cupla said.
People would go through a drive-thru to get the immunization on school grounds, Cupal said. They would not be in a school building.
“This would have nothing to do with the children in school,” Cupal said. “It’s what we call ‘open pods’ for community. They are based in geographic areas so the specific geographic areas would be directed to those pods to get immunizations. There are likely to be other opportunities to get immunized as well, not schools-specific but for the community.”
The Genesee County Board of Commissioners gave tentative approval Wednesday, Dec. 2, to a memorandum of agreement with the Flint, Davison, Flushing, Grand Blanc, Lake Fenton and Mt. Morris school districts, arrangements that lay the groundwork for establishing vaccination pods on school properties.
Read more: Genesee County plans to use six school districts for COVID-19 vaccine sites
“The Genesee County Health Department wants to ensure the public that when dealing with vaccines children are eligible for, standard protocols including the requirement to have a parent or guardian accompany the child, along with written consent by the parent or guardian, are always followed,” a Thursday health department news release reads.
Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Joneigh Khaldun said at a Dec. 1 press conference with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that the state hopes to have vaccines available to the general public by late spring, triggering planning for dispensing by hospitals, pharmacies and local health departments.
The six school districts in Genesee County have worked previously with the county to provide sites for distribution of the vaccine for the H1N1 flu, more commonly known as swine flu.
There is no truth to the rumors about implied consent, said Michelle Edwards, Davison Community Schools spokesperson.
The only way a student would be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine is by the parent voluntarily and physically bringing their child to the immunization site, completing and signing the needed paperwork with health department officials and receiving the shot from a public health nurse, Edwards said.
At the Davison school district, a student cannot even take a non-prescription pain reliever for a headache in school without having an authorization to administer medication form signed by a parent and a physician, she added.
“By agreeing to be a POD site for vaccinations means that the district is simply offering its facilities,” Edwards said. “The clinics would be staffed and fully operated by officials with the health department.”
Davison Community Schools was a host site when the H1N1 vaccine became available following the H1N1 flu outbreak more than a decade ago. Like that clinic, the plan is to have the health department offer its vaccination clinic after school hours, during spring break or even on a Saturday, Edwards added.
The point of distribution site will only be used as a community destination for vaccinations. It is not a school district function, Grand Blanc Community Schools’ Public Relations and Communication Agent Andrea Calvert wrote in an email to MLive/The Flint Journal, echoing the health department’s statement. The only way a student would be vaccinated is if their parent or guardian made the decision to bring them to the point of distribution site separately from the school day to be vaccinated.
“The students will be kept completely separate from the vaccination activities and have nothing to do with the use of the school as a site for the Health Department, if in fact students are even on site when the vaccination clinics take place,” Calvert said.
Informed Choice Michigan President Erica Pettinaro maintained her recommendation to parents who are worried about implied consent to keep their children home during the period these clinics are on school grounds.
“Alternatively, parents who cannot keep their children home should submit a written statement refusing consent for their child to receive vaccinations without a parent or guardian present,” Pettinaro wrote in a statement to MLive/The Flint Journal. “Per WHO, implied consent occurs when ‘the physical presence of the child or adolescent, with or without an accompanying parent at the vaccination session, is considered to imply consent. This practice is based on the opt-out principle and parents who do not consent to vaccination are expected implicitly to take steps to ensure that their child or adolescent does not participate in the vaccination session.’”
The Genesee County Health Department says it has no plan to implement implied consent at vaccine distribution sites.
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes available to the Genesee County Health Department, the department will post the times and locations of clinics along with the priority group that will be eligible for receiving the vaccine at that time. Information on the COVID 19 vaccines and how it will be distributed by priority groups is available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/index.htmle.
Read more:
Gov. Whitmer forms commission to educate Michigan residents about coronavirus vaccine
COVID-19 vaccine could be available to Michigan public by late spring, says Dr. Khaldun
Questions remain regarding distribution of potential coronavirus vaccines in Michigan
Businesses can ‘likely’ mandate coronavirus vaccine for employees, attorney says
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