It is not accurate to say that K-12 students in Virginia have sacrificed much over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. Rather, they have been deprived of their basic education, needed social interactions, and precious school memories, not to mention personal freedoms, because of a virus that statistically poses little to no threat to their health. A vaccination mandate would only add to the real harm, some of it irreparable, that has already been done.

The vaccine doesn't work, ergo, all must be vaccinated. The petitioner argues, "My daughter and all other students should have a right to be able to attend school without being unnecessarily put at risk by other students and teachers who refuse to be vaccinated..." She clearly believes that the vaccine does not protect students or teachers from the Covid-19 virus yet wants to force it on everyone in the entire public and private school community. How often must we be reminded that if the vaccine actually makes one immune, those who get it have nothing to fear from those who do not?

Significant segments of Virginia's citizenry remain reasonably skeptical of the Covid-19 vaccines. If parents want their own children to receive an inoculation whose efficacy and side effects, both short and long term, still have not been adequately determined, that is their choice. The guidelines and protocols currently in place for the Commonwealth's pre-school through twelfth-grade students and staff are more than sufficient. Another sweeping decree is unnecessary and would be extremely unpopular. The Board of Health should reject the petition for a K-12 Covid-19 vaccination mandate.