The Centner Academy, a private school in Miami, has told all of its teachers they will not be welcomed at the school if they get the coronavirus vaccine, according to The New York Times.
- The school’s co-founder Leila Centner said in an email to teachers that teachers who get vaccinated aren’t welcomed at the school.
- “We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known,” Centner said in an email, according to The New York Times.
Why is a Miami school banning teachers because of the vaccine?
Centner pointed to a specific piece of misinformation, which has already been debunked, according to The Washington Post.
- Specifically, Center said in her email that there have been reports of “non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.”
- But, according to The Washington Post, there is already “medical consensus that the coronavirus vaccines effectively prevent serious infections and carry few risks.”
- Centner also sent more information to parents and teachers, including reports of “vaccines’ impact on fertility and menstruation in women and girls,” per The Washington Post.
- She also said vaccinated people “may be transmitting something” to those who didn’t get the vaccine.
So teachers won’t return to Centner Academy?
It doesn’t look like it. A publicist from Centner said in a statement to The New York Times that the school doesn’t feel comfortable yet.
- “We are not 100% sure the COVID injections are safe and there are too many unknown variables for us to feel comfortable at this current time,” the statement said, according to The New York Times.
An example of vaccine hesitancy
The Centner Academy decision is an example of vaccine hesitancy, where one person or a group of people remain unsure about the COVID-19 vaccine. This could have an impact on the United States in general. The country is trying to reach herd immunity against the novel coronavirus — a point in time in which enough people are vaccinated against COVID-19 — in order to return to normal. Too many hesitant people may stop that from happening.
Health experts are worried about hitting a vaccine wall, too. Enough people have been getting vaccinated that the country’s COVID-19 vaccine supply will be more than the demand, which means public health officials will turn their attention toward getting people vaccinated.