A PARENT has blasted the "dangerous" actions of an "anti-vaxxer" councillor who handed out leaflets to pupils outside a school.

Cllr Helena Rose has defended herself after giving the leaflets to parents and pupils outside Minehead Middle School, where children are as young as nine.

The parent said: "It is really dangerous.

"This Minehead town councillor is an anti-vaxxer spreading Covid misinformation.

"It's an extremist leaflet and it's inappropriate to give it to young children.

"We're going into another Covid peak and it's likely to spread.

"We need to get vaccinated if we're going to beat this virus.

"To discourage people from having the jab will see a rise in cases and potentially more deaths."

Among the claims in the two-sided leaflet are that the jabs present a risk of "serious adverse reactions, including deaths" and that they do not prevent Covid infection.

Cllr Rose, a self-employed gardener, said: "It's just for parents to have a careful think before they decided to have their children vaccinated.

"These jabs are at an experimental stage. There's no guarantee they work and the risks are quite large.

"There's been no debate. The government have gone against the advice not to recommended these jabs to children unless they have an existing medical condition.

"I handed some leaflets to people outside the middle school, mostly to parents, but also some to children.

"I acted in my capacity as a very concerned parent."

Cllr Rose added: "Nobody knows what the long-term side effects of these vaccines may be.

"The perceived benefit appears negligible as opposed to the perceived risk.

"I am worried that children who do not take these vaccines (and the subsequent boosters) will in time lose their right to attend school, in the same way that many people see their jobs threatened, unless enough parents prevent this from happening.

"All the leaflets ask is to pause to think so as to make a more informed decision."

Minehead Middle School has so far not responded to our requests for a comment.