Arguments against this petition: 

1. To suggest that this mandate not be given religious exemptions is a direct violation of our constitutional right under the first amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

What other part of the first amendment are you willing to give up?

Also, throwing private schools in with public schools is another violation of our religious freedoms. The risk of spread in a small school of 200 total students with small classes vs. a school of 2000 with overcrowded classrooms is not even a fair comparison.

2. The Code of Virginia states: A parent has a fundamental right to make decisions concerning the upbringing, education, and care of the parent's child. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title1/chapter2.1/section1-240.1/

Parents have the right to make these decisions for their own children. It is not up to the health department or any other government entity to override a parent’s fundamental right to care for their child. 

3. The common law to “informed consent” is not just for experimental treatments (although because of the lack of long term trials, some could argue these are experimental vaccines). Informed consent means we need ALL the data and you need our permission. 

Informed consent has been used in the supreme court in numerous cases to determine that US citizens have the “right to refuse medical treatment.” Teachers/staff and students should not be denied jobs or education when they exercise these rights.

4. Do No Harm. The risk vs. benefits for children does not justify forced vaccinations for Covid-19. According to the VAERS reports there is a very real risk that comes with this vaccination, more than any of the current vaccinations that are required by VDH (all of which can be exempted from!) Obviously if this mandate goes into effect, it will be forced on children as young as 5 the moment that vaccine is approved. We will not know the extent of reactions or long term effects in our children until it is too late.

5. The vaccinations do not keep us from contracting or transmitting Covid. This should be the largest reason we should not mandate it and the most obvious, but for some reason it is not being taken seriously. We should also be considering prior infection. The fact that our government and health departments are disregarding those who have recovered from COVID has raised suspicion of the vaccinations among those who might have otherwise gotten them. Do not ignore real provable data/studies when making these decisions. It does more harm than good.

The masks and quarantines will not stop because the virus is not going anywhere even if all of the population is vaccinated. It adapts to get through our vaccines and has animal reserves to survive.

6. The health department should seriously consider limiting the time healthy children are quarantined. The 14 days that VDH is still adhering to is outdated, even by the CDC. If you have tested negative after the suggested days of waiting after exposure, are not symptomatic and a doctor agrees, allow the children/staff to return to school. As the petitioner suggested, there is too much time and education missed because of these unnecessarily long shut down times.