On Thursday 4th November, anti-vaccination campaigners were seen outside Newstead Woods School in Orpington, trying to persuade students not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The campaigners were spread all along Newstead Avenue, the road leading to the school, as well as the road leading from the school to the station. Students were seen debating with the campaigners, who were handing out leaflets, and holding large yellow signs to display their argument. The leaflets were blue and white, made to look professional, almost as if they were official NHS leaflets.

 The campaigners claimed that the vaccinations were killing those who received them, and their signs stated that there were 1,215,597 (over one million) “vaccine injuries”. When asked by students to specify the meaning of “vaccine injuries”, they did not provide a definite answer.

They further claimed that ‘no healthy children are dying from COVID’, proclaiming that, for this reason, children should not be vaccinated, especially if it may put them at risk. Students asked them to verify their sources and were told that all information was from ‘government and NHS websites’. One of their main points of argument was their worry that the vaccine was still in the trial phases, as they saw it as, therefore, unsafe to be administered.

In their leaflet, they also bring up Nazi trials from World War II, led by the USA and Great Britain, affirming that this was a violation of human rights, where people were “just following orders”. This possibly suggests that they see the vaccine as a violation of human rights, where people agree to be vaccinated, “just to follow orders”. However, the leaflet is very unclear about the relevance of this towards the current situation with vaccinations.

Many are worried that the information presented by these campaigners is unfounded, and therefore dangerous. Martha O’Connor, a Newstead Woods student, said that “I think it’s worrying that they’re targeting children, who are especially vulnerable and likely to absorb this potentially dangerous information.” The school called the police, who patrolled around the school’s area, making sure that the campaigners did not return.