MIAMI — A Miami-based private school that made headlines for asking its staff to not get the COVID-19 vaccine, citing debunked information, is now requiring vaccinated students to quarantine for a month.
A letter obtained by WSVN shows the Centner Academy is asking parents to hold off on vaccinating their students against COVID-19 for reasons the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention has already disproven.
"…if you are considering the vaccine for your Centner Academy student(s), we ask that you hold off until the Summer when there will be time for the potential transmission or shedding onto others to decrease," WSVN reports the letter sent to parents states.
Vaccine shedding is the "release or discharge of any vaccine components in or outside of the body," according to the CDC. Experts say this only occurs in vaccines that use a weakened version of the virus or live virus — which the COVID-19 vaccine does not.
"None of the vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. contain a live virus," the CDC wrote. You can learn more about debunked vaccine myths here.
Centner Academy is also asking students who do get the vaccine to stay home for 30 days post-vaccination to combat a "potential impact" on fellow students.
According to the school's website, it values "individuality and honor freedom of choice" when it comes to vaccinations in general.
One of the school's co-founders released the following statement on the decision to 10 Tampa Bay:
“Centner Academy's policy was enacted as a prudent precautionary measure after much thoughtful deliberation. To be clear, the school leadership does not believe that one who is vaccinated can infect another person with COVID. Further, the school is not opining on whether a vaccinated person can negatively impact others. However, due to voluminous anecdotal reports in circulation on this latter topic, we must err on the side of caution when making decisions that may impact the health of the school community. Until there are definitive and scientifically proven studies that refute these reports, we need to do what is best for our students and staff. Our top priorities have always been our students’ well-being and their sense of safety within our educational environment. We will continue to act in accordance with these priorities. The email that we sent to families was grounded in these priorities.”
