Original title: Many places have made it clear that vaccination is not linked to the beginning of school and returning to school, and some schools are compulsory in disguised form
Beijing News (Reporter Jiang Huizi Hu Xianhe and intern Xu Lindi) The fall semester is about to start, and epidemic prevention work has been deployed in many places across the country. Zhejiang, Gansu, Haikou, Hainan and other places have made it clear that vaccination of the new crown vaccine is not a mandatory condition for students to return to school. However, individual schools in some places still require vaccination records as proof of school start and return to school.
On August 23, the National Health Commission issued the fourth edition of the technical plan for epidemic prevention in schools and kindergartens. For primary and secondary schools, the plan clearly requires that in order to ensure a smooth start of school, teachers and students in low-risk areas can return to school if their health conditions meet the local epidemic prevention requirements; returning from high-risk areas to school, a negative nucleic acid test within 48 hours must be provided. In fact, as early as April 11, the spokesperson of the National Health Commission Mi Feng said that simplification or even one-size-fits-all inoculation has occurred in certain places, and all staff are required to be vaccinated and must be resolutely corrected.
Many places make it clear that vaccination cannot be a compulsory condition for school opening
At present, all provinces across the country have issued notices to deploy anti-epidemic work at the beginning of the fall semester. College students have basically completed the vaccination, and the vaccination work for people aged 12-17 is advancing. Parents pay attention to the epidemic prevention requirements for the opening of primary and secondary schools for this age group.
Guangdong Province requires that before the start of school, check the new crown vaccination records, check the vaccination records such as student vaccination certificates, electronic vaccination certificates, and health code vaccination certificates, and establish an account for unanswered people.
Haikou City, Hainan Province also has the same requirements. On August 9, Haikou City held a press conference on epidemic prevention and control, requiring Haikou City’s education departments and schools at all levels to enroll in the fall of September to include the vaccination vaccination certificate as one of the enrollment materials for verification.
The relevant person in charge immediately emphasized that the purpose of this move is to arrange the vaccination of unvaccinated persons as soon as possible after the beginning of school, and it will not be a mandatory entry condition for the opening of the name.
Since then, both Zhejiang and Gansu provinces have made clear statements that schools must not require students to be vaccinated, and vaccinations cannot be used as a prerequisite for school to return to school.
The Zhejiang Provincial Epidemic Prevention and Control Press Conference held on August 18 clearly stated that when students are to be vaccinated, the consent of parents or guardians must be obtained and an informed consent form must be signed, and no mandatory requirements may be imposed on students. The school cannot treat students who cannot be vaccinated due to various reasons, and will not prohibit them from returning to school.
On August 19, Gansu Province issued a notice on epidemic prevention for the start of the fall semester. Schools across the country implemented a staggered and classified start. In principle, the start time should not be earlier than August 30. At the same time, it is emphasized that schools and kindergartens must not use the inspection of the new crown vaccination status of parents and family members as a prerequisite for teachers and students to return to school.
Individual schools in Henan require opening journals and submitting vaccination certificates
Under the superimposed flood and epidemic situation, Henan Province has postponed the opening time of the new semester. The school’s epidemic prevention work plan requires that the vaccination of people between 12 and 17 years old must follow the principles of “territorial management, convenient proximity, informed consent, and safety.” Organize and implement measures according to local conditions and age groups to build a strong campus anti-epidemic barrier.
Xinxiang, Henan requires that after receiving the notice, schools will promptly organize 12-17 year-old students to be vaccinated nearby in batches from August 16th to August 18th, and report the vaccination progress before 5 pm every day.
When implemented in each school, the policy has been “overweighted.” The Kaida campus of the 22nd Middle School of Xinxiang City not only provided the time for two doses of vaccination, but also indicated that the school would report the vaccination status daily. At the same time, the “overweight” requirement is that “When the academic journal starts in the fall of 2021, our school will require students to provide vaccination certificates.”
Does this mean that school will not start normally without vaccination? In the face of reporters’ inquiries, the school’s staff stated that they are all required to be vaccinated as required, and they should take all of them. “The specific requirements have been written in the notice.”
The primary and secondary schools of Kaijie Education Group in Changyuan City, Xinxiang require that faculty and staff who are not vaccinated cannot enter the campus, except for those with contraindications; students aged 12-17 years old must complete the first dose of vaccine before August 18; when the school starts, students The parent’s vaccination certificate is required, and the screenshot is sent to the class teacher.
A staff member of Kaijie School told reporters that students over the age of 12 must be vaccinated, and if there are contraindications, a certificate issued by a hospital at or above the county level is required. The school start time has not yet been determined, but the school requires students who have no contraindications to be vaccinated. Regarding whether the parental vaccination situation affects the child’s school start, the staff member said that there is no relevant document yet.
In this regard, Yu Qi, a researcher at the Constitution and Administrative Law Research Center of Peking University, believes that requiring students to be vaccinated or to provide proof of contraindications in many cases means that the student must be vaccinated if they cannot provide proof.
“This is a kind of compulsory disguised form, which is inconsistent with the voluntary vaccination requirements of the new crown vaccine under the current legal framework.” Yu Qi also mentioned that contraindication certificates often involve personal health privacy, and mandatory requirements to provide contraindication certificates harm the legitimate rights and interests of citizens. Suspicion.
Avoid accountability and complete the goal quickly…Multiple factors make it difficult to eliminate the “local policy”
Zhang Xinyu, a lecturer at Beijing Technology and Business University School of Law, believes that in my country, student enrollment and vaccination are linked to a certain extent. For vaccines that are not required by the state, that is, a type of vaccine, they need to be replanted during the compulsory education stage. However, the new crown vaccine belongs to the second category of vaccines and is voluntarily vaccinated by citizens. “If you can’t go to school because you haven’t received the new crown vaccine, it will violate the student’s right to education.”
Yu Qi also stated that no subject can force citizens to receive the new crown vaccine, nor can they impose any disciplinary actions on citizens who have not been vaccinated. The school cannot prevent the student from enrolling or participating in group activities because the student has not been vaccinated, nor can it cancel the student’s eligibility for award evaluation. Unfounded acts of infringement are illegal acts.” Yu Qi pointed out.
On April 11, the State Council held a press conference on the joint prevention and control mechanism. Mi Feng, spokesperson for the National Health Commission, said that simplification and even one-size-fits-all inoculation have occurred in certain places. All staff are required to be vaccinated and must be resolutely implemented. correct. Since the national level has repeatedly reiterated the basic principles of knowledge, consent, and voluntariness of COVID-19 vaccination, and clearly stopped the “one size fits all” approach, why is the local “local policy” still incessant?
In Zhang Xinyu’s view, the main reason for such problems is the fear of the outbreak of the epidemic. Once an epidemic occurs, they may be held accountable, and there is no clear relief channel for this vaccination problem. Therefore, “one size fits all” is a relatively simple epidemic. solution. Wang Guisong, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School, also posted a few days ago that in actual implementation, because of the existence of post-event accountability, it is difficult to avoid the problem of overweighting.
Yu Qi believes that the reason for the “one size fits all” phenomenon is that it is helpful for local governments to advance quickly and complete the assessment targets of higher authorities as soon as possible; the other is to simplify operations, which can reduce administrative costs to a certain extent. For local governments, “one size fits all” has largely distorted the intentions of higher-level governments, and it is not the best choice from the people’s standpoint.
A recent reply from the Education Bureau of Xinning County, Hunan Province stated the reason why the policy has been increased and deformed at the grassroots level. In response to the local Feixianqiao Central Elementary School’s tough requirement that “those who have not been vaccinated, they will not be admitted in the fall”, the Xinning County Education Bureau responded that this happened mainly because the school’s incomplete understanding of the higher-level policies and inaccurate textual expressions , Causing misunderstandings among parents.
The new crown vaccine belongs to the second category of vaccines, experts: vaccination can be motivated but not limited
In July of this year, some schools linked the vaccination situation with the beginning of school and returning to school, and the wording was clear and strict. However, because the new crown vaccine belongs to the second category of vaccines, citizens voluntarily vaccinate, after the incident caused controversy, the relevant policy was immediately withdrawn.
Guiping City, under the jurisdiction of Guigang, Guangxi, previously stipulated that before students enroll in school, their family members must complete the vaccination, otherwise enrollment will be suspended. Later, the staff of the local education department told reporters that the regulations will not be implemented and a new notice will be issued.
According to the latest school opening requirements of Guigang City on August 2, all teachers, students and staff must report body temperature and physical signs to the school 15 days in advance. The school will check the list of teachers and students who do not meet the requirements for returning to school three days before the start of school and postpone returning to school. When the school starts, the school will organize personnel to re-check the vaccination status of teachers, students and staff.
The new notice does not directly link vaccination with the beginning of school and returning to school. The reporter noticed that the current local policies are mostly based on encouragement and mobilization. Although some regions require the opening of school to check the new crown vaccination records, they said that the purpose is to find out the bottom line and establish a ledger.
In the face of the pressure of vaccination, what should be the reasonable and caring scales and practices? Yu Qi said that the goal of strengthening vaccination and building an immune barrier is completely legitimate in itself. However, there are many options for achieving this goal. The government should choose measures that have the least negative impact on citizens, rather than resorting to all kinds of rigid methods.
For example, by organizing public figures to actively display their vaccination records, create a good public opinion, guide and encourage the masses to actively vaccination. Continuously improve the convenience of vaccination, so that the willing people can get the vaccination as soon as possible.
Where conditions permit, appropriate material rewards can also be provided for vaccinated individuals, such as the school distributing special souvenirs to vaccinated students, or other forms of rewards. Vaccination can also be included in the bonus points of local credit points, but those who have not been vaccinated should not be deducted credit points.
Wang Guisong also pointed out in the article that measures such as vaccination to reward eggs and milk are within the scope permitted by law. “From the perspective of the actual system, the restriction mechanism does not conform to the’voluntary’ principle of vaccination, while the incentive mechanism only stimulates the willingness of vaccination. Whether vaccination is still a voluntary choice of the parties.”
Beijing News reporter Jiang Huizi Hu Xianhe and intern Xu Lindi
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