JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The parents of a now-former Waterleaf Elementary School kindergartner are going after Duval County Public Schools after they say their son was given a flu shot without their consent.
DCPS says the mix-up is on Health Hero Florida, an immunization program hired by the district.
“We trust to send our kids to school to be safe. For something to happen like that, it was extremely disappointing,” Ebony Sullivan said.
STORY: DCPS changes mask requirement due to decline in COVID-19 cases
She and her husband, Kashon Sullivan, are reeling after their 5-year-old son, Easton, was mistakenly given a flu shot on Oct. 26.
The Sullivans say Easton had never had a flu shot before, and they did not sign for one.
Kashon says he got a call from the school and was told there’d been a mix-up with another kid with a similar name.
“Apparently, our son let them know that his name was the incorrect name at the time – a numerous amount of times – and yet they proceeded to still give him that shot without our permission,” Kashon said.
The Sullivans have hired an attorney to go after the district and Health Hero Florida.
Health Hero Florida’s president Jeff Lott says the program deeply regrets the incident where “staff members unintentionally administered a flu shot to a student who had not received parental consent.”
He went on to say, “the staff members involved in this incident have been suspended pending further review, and we are reviewing our protocols to determine any updates that need to take place to prevent incidents such as this from occurring in the future.”
TRENDING: Report: Wife shot, killed her husband in their Orange Park garage, watched TV and went to sleep
The Sullivans don’t plan on backing down.
“We would like justice for our son and for all kids, so this doesn’t happen to innocent kids in the future,” Ebony said.
The Sullivans say they want compensation.