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Newsom Announces Vaccine Mandate For All K-12 Students

Phil Roeder
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Flickr / Creative Commons

The vaccine requirement for students hinges on the full approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of a COVID-19 vaccine for children between the ages of five to 11-years-old. The FDA is expected to approve the vaccines by either New Year’s Day or July 1st, 2022.

According to Newsom, the vaccine requirement would first apply to students age 12 and older in grades seven through 12, who are already able to receive vaccine doses. The later date would apply to the remaining students under age 12, who would be eligible to receive FDA-approved doses of the vaccine.

The mandate will apply to both public and private schools. It will include the standard exemptions for people who cannot get vaccinated due to religious or medical reasons.

Newsom said at a Friday briefing in San Francisco that California is the first state to enact a statewide vaccine mandate for its school children but will not be the last.

A handful of school districts have already issued their own vaccine mandates for students or are considering doing so, including the San Francisco Unified, San Jose Unified, West Contra Costa Unified, and Los Angeles Unified school districts.

Sunni M. Khalid is a veteran of more than 40 years in journalism, having worked in print, radio, television, and web journalism.