CORONA California won't require COVID-19 vaccine to attend schools



California won't require COVID-19 vaccine to attend schools​


That's a reversal from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2021 announcement that the state would add the COVID-19 vaccine to its list of mandated vaccinations for kids to attend school.​




AP

Updated: 4:40 PM PST Feb 3, 2023
By Adam Beam






California won't make children get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools.

The California Department of Public Health said Friday it is not exploring emergency rules to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required school vaccinations.


That's a reversal from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's 2021 announcement that the state would add the COVID-19 vaccine to its list of mandated vaccinations for kids to attend school. Last year, state officials delayed that requirement until at least the summer of 2023.

Now public health officials say they are no longer moving ahead with the effort as the state prepares to end its coronavirus emergency on Feb. 28.

State public health officials said they still “strongly recommend" immunization of students and staff
. They added that any changes to the vaccine requirement are “properly addressed through the legislative process.”
 

California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools​


From the Today's top headlines: Saturday, Feb. 4 series​


California won’t make children get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools​


  • By ADAM BEAM - Associated Press
  • California Schools COVID Vaccine


    FILE - Johnny Thai, 11, receives the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a pediatric vaccine clinic for children ages 5 to 11 set up at Willard Intermediate School in Santa Ana, Calif., Nov. 9, 2021. On Friday, Feb. 3, 2023, the California Department of Public Health said it was no longer exploring emergency rules to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required school vaccinations.
    Jae C. Hong - staff, AP




By ADAM BEAM - Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Children in California won't have to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state public health officials confirmed Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation's most populous state.

Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced the policy in 2021, saying it would eventually apply to all of California's 6.7 million public and private schoolchildren.

But since then, the crisis first caused by a mysterious virus in late 2019 has mostly receded from public consciousness. COVID-19 is still widespread, but the availability of multiple vaccines has lessened the viruses' effects for many — offering relief to what had been an overwhelmed public health system.

Nearly all of the pandemic restrictions put in place by Newsom have been lifted, and he won't be able to issue any new ones after Feb. 28 when the state's coronavirus emergency declaration officially ends.




One of the last remaining questions was what would happen to the state's vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, a policy that came from the California Department of Public Health and was not impacted by the lifting of the emergency declaration.

Friday, the Department of Public Health confirmed it was backing off its original plan.

“CDPH is not currently exploring emergency rulemaking to add COVID-19 to the list of required school vaccinations, but we continue to strongly recommend COVID-19 immunization for students and staff to keep everyone safer in the classroom,” the department said in a statement. “Any changes to required K-12 immunizations are properly addressed through the legislative process.”


The announcement was welcome news for Jonathan Zachreson, a father of three who lives in Roseville. Zachreson founded the group Reopen California Schools to oppose many of the state's coronavirus policies. His activism led to him being elected to the Roseville City School District board in November.

“This is long overdue. ... A lot of families have been stressed from this decision and worried about it for quite some time," he said. “I wish CDPH would make a bigger statement publicly or Newsom would make a public statement ... to let families know and school districts know that this is no longer going to be an issue for them.”

Representatives for Newsom did not respond to an email requesting comment.

California has had lots of influence over the country's pandemic policies. It was the first state to issue a statewide stay-at-home order — and other states were swift to follow.

But most states did not follow California's lead when it came to the vaccine mandate for public schools.
Officials in Louisiana announced a similar mandate, but later backed off.
Schools in the District of Columbia plan to require the COVID-19 vaccine starting in the fall.

Republican U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former member of the state Assembly who challenged Newsom in a failed recall attempt in 2021 over his pandemic policies, published a blog post declaring: “We won. To Gavin Newsom: You lost.”

Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist representing most of the state's school districts, said he did not think the policy change was the result of political pressure by Republicans, but instead a reflection of the virus's slowing transmission rates.

“The public's appetite for these kinds of mandates is definitely not what it used to be,” he said. “If you started to now impose a heavy mandate when the amount of transmission is significantly lower than it was statewide, a one-size-fits-all solution doesn't work right now.”
 

Tripod

Veteran Member
This has more to do with the school not getting state aid per student because parents have pulled them out.
Mike
 

Blacknarwhal

Let's Go Brandon!
Sounds like they have filled their quota. Population explosion has been slowed. Vax was successful. That is all.

...population explosion?

WHAT population explosion?

The US is barely at replacement rates. The only "explosion" is in third world nonsense countries.

...oh yeah. Part of the plan.
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
I suspect it isn't just illegals; a large portion of the older Hispanic population (2nd generation to the Hacienda period under new Spain) are conservatives, either old-style Democrats or Republicans. They probably don't want to vaccinate their kids either, or they don't want to be FORCED to.
 
I suspect it isn't just illegals; a large portion of the older Hispanic population (2nd generation to the Hacienda period under new Spain) are conservatives, either old-style Democrats or Republicans. They probably don't want to vaccinate their kids either, or they don't want to be FORCED to.
AND they DO NOT like the illegals
 

Melodi

Disaster Cat
AND they DO NOT like the illegals
True, with occasional exceptions for family members, but even that is kind of rare these days. They'd rather bring them in legally and obey the law. Of course, anyone who has tried to bring in a spouse or family member legally knows how messed up the US immigration system is.

I have friends that moved to England (she had a right of return from a parent) because by the time they decided she (a Canadian) could live in the US, she had already screamed at the agents, "why do you think I even want to live in your country? I'm a Canadian, and I have a perfectly good country of my own, I just happened to fall in love with an American, and I married him. I think wives should live with their husbands, don't you?"

US Immigration relented after that but the well had been poisoned, the UK has benefited from her business sense and ownership now for over 20 years, and the US lost out.
 
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