The following press release was published by the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (WHO EU) last October 29, 2021.

In it, WHO stresses: “If and when restrictions are imposed to decrease or control transmission, schools should be the last places to shut their doors and the first to reopen with appropriate infection prevention measures. In short: interrupting children’s education should be a last resort.”

According to Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, WHO regional Director for EU, “Last year’s widespread school closures, disrupting the education of millions of children and adolescents, did more harm than good, especially to children’s mental and social well-being. We can’t repeat the same mistakes.” He adds, “Science must trump politics, and the long-term interests of children must remain a priority – especially now that a number of countries are seeing a spike in transmission. We have more efficient tools to address this spike than closing schools”.

Editor’s Note: While this press release was issued for Europe, the message is nonetheless for the rest of the world. Schools must be kept open, and more efficient tools at addressing spikes in infection should be utilized. Our children and their future must no longer be sacrificed for the political and selfish agenda of our leaders [School Closures and Masking Kids are Irrational, Unscientific, and Child abuse].

Take note that this statement contains nothing about the need to vaccinate children before school reopens. The WHO says, “Instead of closing educational institutions, WHO recommends a whole-of-society approach to reducing transmission through a wide range of measures, depending upon the level of transmission, in places where it occurs. This includes schooling environments, where physical distancing, cleaning hands frequently, wearing masks, ensuring adequate ventilation in classrooms and increasing access to testing are important, particularly in high-prevalence settings.”

We want to stress this: all these recommendations from the WHO must be used appropriately. For example, masking is unnecessary for young children, especially as they do not readily transmit the virus, and masks are dangerous for their developing brains.[Read German Neurologist: Oxygen deprivation due to face masks cause permanent neurological damage].

Moreover, several pediatricians are already speaking up for children. For example, the Belgian Academy for Medicine has put out a statement in September 2021 asking that “current coronavirus measures to be dropped in schools for children under 12 years old”^[1]https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/185909/doctors-want-coronavirus-measures-for-12s-in-schools-to-be-dropped/ Meanwhile, Dr. Camilla Kingdon, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health said just last October 17, 2021 that COVID testing in schools should be brough to an end. She said, “Children and teenagers need to focus on their education and school attendance must be encouraged without being interrupted by routine testing of asymptomatic children and teenagers.”^[2]https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/10/17/royal-college-paediatrics-head-calls-end-covid-testing-schools/

Early last year, several parents in the Philippines launched a signature campaign urging the government to lift the lockdowns on children and reopen schools. We covered this initiative in our article, Overcome the fear: Sign petition to end lockdowns of children and the youth, which also included some resources to strengthen the position of these parents. Despite being more than a year old, the scientific bases we have collated then remains true until today: there is no logical reason for our governments to keep our children locked out of their communities.

Not content with destroying our economy, our government wants to totally damage our children. More than a year since that campaign was launched, our schools remain closed, our young children are still not allowed to go out and play in parks, and our government has not unveiled any plans for reopening, except for the proposal to get children vaccinated.

We are utterly aghast at our government’s disregard for the wellbeing of our children. Whereas the entire world has already reopened their schools in light of scientific findings, the Philippine government continues to hold our children hostage.

But as the COVID agenda starts to unravel and the citizen pushback gains more traction, we only have this to say to Mr. Duterte and his minions: we shall not forget the crimes you committed against our children.

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