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Anti-vaxxers accuse school head of being ‘accessory to genocide’

JCoSS, Liverpool King David, Kantor King Solomon and JFS have received 'nasty' letters and emails from opponents of vaccines for pupils

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Jewish schools are among those to have received threatening letters as anti-vaxxers pursue their fight against the Covid vaccine rollout.

The government’s recent extension of the national immunisation campaign to the 12-15s has put schools in the firing line of those opposing it.

At JCoSS in East Barnet, headteacher Patrick Moriarty said that among letters from anti-vaxxers was a four-page anonymous screed, titled “Notice to cease & desist”, warning he could be “an accessory to genocide” and charged with “medical rape”.

It said he could be in breach of the Nuremberg Code — the protocol for medical treatment drawn up after the complicity of doctors in the Nazis’ crimes — if he allowed “experimental vaccinations” to continue.

“It is a fairly unpleasant thing to be accused of genocide,” Mr Moriarty said.

Michael Sutton, headteacher of Liverpool King David High, has also received letters but was more concerned about reports of protesters picketing local schools. “It has been distasteful to put it mildly,” he said.

JFS in Kenton has been getting “nasty” emails and letters and Kantor King Solomon High in Redbridge receives “a couple of threatening letters a week”, according to headteacher Hannele Reece.

She expressed “huge relief” on Tuesday that anti-vaxxers didn’t “turn up to protest today.

“Another local school was targeted just before half term.”

At JCoSS, Mr Moriarty said that around 70 per cent of pupils had been vaccinated so far.

He found it “frustrating” that while much of the country appeared to be acting as if the pandemic was over, schools were still “going through the mill”.

There had been around 150 cases of Covid infection among pupils since the start of term and the school had remained on “amber” measures with pupils back in bubbles and wearing masks.

JFS said it currently had around 20 children off.

Mrs Reece reported that five of the seven King Solomon teachers who had been absent with Covid were due back on Wednesday. Infection rates among pupils were “reasonably high”.

Over 100 King Solomon students were jabbed on Tuesday “so I am hoping that will help a little”.

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