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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation’s first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, requiring all elementary to high school students to be vaccinated once the vaccine has passed. final US government approval for different age groups.
The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and older, but has only granted emergency clearance to anyone 12 to 15 years of age. Once federal regulators fully approve it for this group, the state will require students in Grades 7 to 12 to get vaccinated. in public and private schools. Newsom said he expects this requirement to be in place by July 1.
California will require the COVID-19 vaccine for kindergarten to sixth graders after obtaining final federal approval for children ages 5 to 11.
“We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted, ”the Democratic governor told reporters at a college in San Francisco.
The announcement comes as infections across much of California have declined significantly over the past month. Newsom was emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign in which he underscored his commitment to immunization mandates to end the pandemic.
In Los Angeles County – the largest in the country, with more than 10 million people – only 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections have halved over the past month, when most of the children have returned to school.
“These numbers are incredibly low given that more than 3,000 schools are now open across the county,” county health director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.
She noted that although the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the total number is small and largely linked to youth sports.
The state’s immunization mandate for schoolchildren would come into effect the semester of final federal approval. If it comes in January, then the mandate would come into effect in July.
Students would benefit from religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would enforce them have yet to be written. Any student who refused to be vaccinated would be forced to take an independent home study course.
Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student immunization mandates to local school districts, which has led to a variety of different orders in some of the state’s larger districts. Five California districts have imposed their own requirements, including Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest school district, which is expected to come into effect in January.
Newsom’s plan does not replace plans for those districts, saying school districts can “speed up” requirements.
Dr. Peter N. Bretan, president of the California Medical Association, said the organization “strongly supports” the governor’s decision.
“This is not a new idea. We already need vaccines against several known deadly diseases before students can enroll in schools,” he said. “The Newsom administration is simply extending protections. existing public health programs to cover this new disease, which has caused so much pain and suffering in our state, our nation and the world over the past 18 months. “
Newsom has made a point of being the first in the country to issue a variety of school warrants related to the pandemic.
In August, California became the first state to require all teachers and staff in public and private schools from Kindergarten to Grade 12 to be vaccinated or have weekly COVID-19 tests. Newsom also issued a school mask warrant earlier in the summer for classroom lessons that applies to all teachers and students.
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