Miami school bars vaccinated teachers from seeing students

Some 141 million people have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in the United States

A Miami school has discouraged teachers from getting the Covid vaccine, saying any vaccinated employees will be barred from interacting with students.

Centner Academy leadership cited debunked claims of non-vaccinated people being "negatively impacted" by contact with vaccinated people.

Experts say there is no evidence for such theories. US health officials have said the jabs are safe and effective.

Some 141 million Americans have received the Covid-19 vaccine to date.

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The Centner Academy, a fee-paying school, is located in Miami's Design District. Annual tuition begins at $15,160 (£10,898) for pre-school students and goes up to nearly $30,000 for middle school students, who are around 13-15 years old.

Co-founder Leila Centner informed parents on Monday that, when possible, the academy's policy is to not employ anyone who has received a Covid-19 vaccine at this time, CBS Miami reported.

In a letter last week to staff, first reported by the New York Times, Mrs Centner said teachers must notify the school if they had already received the jab.

"We cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known," Mrs Centner wrote.

Teachers who wait to get vaccinated after the school year ends will be allowed to return only when clinical trials on the vaccine are completed, assuming a position at the school is still available.

Mrs Centner also repeated a false claim of vaccinated individuals affecting unvaccinated people, saying three women in the school's community had their menstrual cycles "impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person".

There is no scientific evidence for these claims. None of the coronavirus vaccines approved for emergency in the US have been linked to infertility, miscarriages or any other negative changes to women's reproductive health.

Mrs Centner and her husband David Centner have described themselves as "health freedom advocates", providing guidance for parents at the Centner Academy to file for exemptions from vaccine requirements in the past.

Mrs Centner has frequently shared anti-vaccine content on Facebook, according to the Times.

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David and Leila Centner, founders of the Centner Academy have described themselves as 'health freedom advocates'

In a response to questions from US media, a representative for Mrs Centner said that the school was not "100 percent sure that Covid injections are safe and there are too many unknown variables for us to feel comfortable at this current time".

The United Teachers of Dade, a local not-for-profit teachers group, said in a statement to CBS News: "We are horrified by the unsafe conditions and labour violations that colleagues at schools such as this one have to endure due to lack of union representation and contract rights."