Beijing officials refuted an online rumor about a K-12 COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but parents said schools and hospitals were pressured to comply and that such compliance helped to speed up the promotion of officials. On Feb. 13, a Beijing education regulator said that the public misunderstood the school COVID vaccination program, and dismissed rumors that schools are forcing the COVID vaccine on kids if they want to attend school in the next semester, and that unvaccinated children must present proof of nucleic acid testing every 48 hours to be allowed in the school. The officials’ clarification came after its website was flooded with parents’ comments objecting to the recent school regulations that teachers had given orally. Mr. Li, a Beijing resident, told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the regulator actually convened a meeting on Feb. 8 to deliver relevant decisions and information, off the record, to school …