London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Schools warn about hoax anti-vaccine letters

Schools warn about hoax anti-vaccine letters

School leaders have warned about being targeted by hoax Covid vaccine consent letters, which aim to spread anti-vaccine messages to parents in England.

Head teachers have been sent a "consent checklist", under a fake NHS logo, along with a letter telling them to share this with parents.

But the checklist includes a series of negative claims about the risks of vaccinations to young people.

Head teachers' leaders say the hoax letters are "massively unhelpful".

"We would appeal for those behind these fake consent forms to stop circulating them," said Julie McCulloch of the ASCL head teachers' union.

'Confusion'


The letters sent to schools are presented as being a consent form with information to be sent to parents ahead of pupils being given Covid vaccinations.

Below an "NHS Vaccines" logo, it includes claims such as the vaccine being a risk for "strokes, blindness, deafness, clotting, miscarriages, anaphylaxis and cardiovascular disorders".

It appears from social media that some parents have already been sent the letter, after schools had been tricked into sharing them.

"Today we have a 'consent checklist' which seems almost kinda like it's designed to put kids off?," said one parent on Twitter - with a follow-up that the school had been in touch again to withdraw the letter.

Dr Jonathan Leach, NHS England medical director for Covid immunisation, told confused parents on Twitter that this was "not a legitimate NHS form".

Heads' leader Ms McCulloch said the hoax letters were causing problems for schools when they were already under pressure.

"One of these pressures is the fact that a large number of pupils have caught Covid and are absent from school - the very thing that the vaccination programme is designed to address," she said.

Covid vaccinations have been offered to 12 to 15-year-olds across the UK this term, with the aim of reducing the spread of the virus and the resulting disruption in schools.

Among those schools sent the hoax letter were those in the St John the Baptist academy trust in East Anglia.

"Our schools are doing an amazing job to continue their primary purpose of education and to keep children and staff safe. And it is shocking that we are being targeted by hoaxers, who are trying to undermine those efforts by pretending they are from the NHS," said Brian Conway, chief executive of the trust.

He said that Covid cases were rising among the younger years in secondary school, but there were few cases in the top years, "where many students have already had the jab".

Any unauthorised use of the NHS logo was taken very seriously, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care.

"Misinformation about the vaccine is dangerous and costs lives. We are continuing to do everything we can, working with local authorities and our NHS, to counter the spread of untruths with public information that is grounded in science and facts," said the DHSC spokeswoman.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×