London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

UK teachers targeted by Covid anti-vaxxers as schools prepare to vaccinate pupils

UK teachers targeted by Covid anti-vaxxers as schools prepare to vaccinate pupils

One headteacher threatened with legal action by own governor over student jabs

Secondary schools in the UK have been plunged into the centre of the row over Covid vaccines for 12- to 15-year-olds, with anti-vaxxers at school gates and a headteacher threatened with legal action by one of his own governors.

Letters circulated by campaign groups and parents are accusing schools of sanctioning “medical experimentation” if they allow the Covid vaccination programme for 12- to 15-year-olds to go ahead.

The headteacher of a secondary school in the south-east has been sent one of the pro forma letters, which was signed by a member of the school’s own governing body. It said she would hold the head personally liable if children were given Covid jabs without parental consent.

On Thursday, members of the campaign group Outreach Worldwide gathered in north London to hand out leaflets and talk to pupils at home time as part of its “informed consent campaign”, which aims to “educate and empower teens and encourage resistance”.

Heads are expecting anti-vax groups to ramp up action in coming weeks as schools begin to distribute consent forms to families, followed by a staggered start to the vaccinations.

Critics of the programme claim parents’ wishes will be ignored because of the “Gillick competence”, a legal ruling which states that if a young person has the “intelligence, competence and understanding” to appreciate what is involved in a medical treatment, they can receive it whether parents agree to it or not.

Guidance published on Friday by the Department for Education (DfE) said that in cases where a teenager wanted the jab but their parent had not given consent, healthcare professionals would make every effort to contact the family before they proceeded, but that the parent “cannot overrule the decision of a Gillick competent child”.

The guidance also confirmed that the local School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS), not schools, would be legally responsible for the delivery of the vaccine.


Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, warned that headteachers were feeling “inundated and pretty intimidated” by the anti-vax campaigns and feared being “caught in the crossfire”.

“There is a head of steam behind it that needs to be addressed in a very forthright manner by the DfE,” he said. “Headteachers are not going to be overruling parents. Our job is to open a sports hall and send a letter out; that is the end of our responsibility. But heads are concerned that in instances where there are disagreements in families about vaccinations, schools will somehow get caught in the crossfire. We are saying to our members you are not in any way expected to get caught up in it.”

Concerns have also been raised that the “febrile atmosphere” surrounding the debate could put parents off agreeing to their children being vaccinated.

The government is reportedly aiming for 75% of the age group to have the jab, a figure which some headteachers described as unrealistic and which is much higher than the 56% of children in secondary school who received the flu vaccine last autumn.

Parent polls also suggest there will be a lower take-up. A Parent Ping survey last year found that just 52% of mothers would allow their children to be vaccinated, but that 76% of fathers were in favour, suggesting there could be some disagreements within households.

“I think initially, the feeling was that there would be quite a high level of consent because these young people have suffered so much with loss of schooling and their parents have seen that,” said Barton. “But I think that through the way that this has unravelled – with all these counter-arguments – it will have unnerved some of those parents and that could well drive the numbers down.”

At the beginning of September, the UK’s vaccine advisory body refused to approve vaccinating healthy children aged 12 to 15 on health grounds alone. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said children were at such a low risk from the virus that jabs would offer only a marginal benefit.

However the UK’s four chief medical officers, who have the final say, have recommended vaccines for 12- to 15-year-olds on “public health grounds” because it is “likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of Covid-19 in schools”.

Steve Bell, chief executive of the the Painsley Catholic Academy Group of Schools, in Staffordshire, said he was unconcerned about the quasi-legal letter he had received from an anti-vax group.

He said: “It’s a tactic to try and put some pressure on but the way I look at it is that we are in the middle of a devastating pandemic and we just want our children to be in school because they’ve missed out on so much. We are already, at the start of this term, facing a large number of Covid cases. The statistics say that having the vaccine will reduce transmission and serious illness. That is great for the kids because it means statistically, they will be more likely to be able to come to school.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “It is never acceptable for anyone to pressurise or intimidate pupils, teachers or the wider school community.

“In the same way as vaccinations for pupils in schools take place every year, the School Aged Immunisation Service will manage and be legally responsible for the delivery of the Covid vaccine to 12- to 15-year-olds.

“Consent from parents or carers will always be sought for this age group and it is up to children and their families if they want to accept the offer of the vaccine. No one should be stigmatised for their decision.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×