Starting January 3rd, students across California will be required to be vaccinated in order to attend in-person classes. Despite this, state officials announced that more than 70 percent of students aged 12-17 remain unvaccinated. Unvaccinated students will have two options -- either enroll in a virtual academy or attend independent study.
Hundreds of students are on the wait list for virtual academies, as school districts scramble to hire more teachers. West Contra Costa Unified School District superintendent LaResha Martin said, “We don’t have enough teachers, that’s the bottom line.”
In Sacramento, only a quarter of students are vaccinated, leaving more than 14,000 students needing to sign up for a virtual academy or independent study. In Oakland, only 60 percent of students are vaccinated. Some other California school districts report that about half of their students remain unvaccinated.
School districts have tried to tackle this problem with different solutions. The Oakland Unified School District says students with religious or health exemptions from vaccinations can attend classes. Furthermore, Oakland Unified has pushed its vaccination mandate back toJanuary 31st.