The state of California won’t be implementing vaccine mandates for school children until at least mid-2023.
QUICK FACTS:
- California has delayed its vaccine mandate for school-aged kids, according to The Epoch Times.
- Reports indicate this allows students to attend school regardless of their vaccine status until at last the middle of 2023.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration says it won’t enforce the mandate until vaccines are fully authorized by the FDA for children.
- The California governor initially planned to mandate vaccines for the start of the 2022-23 school year. However, on Thursday the administration said it would delay the vaccine mandate.
COMMENTS ON NEWSOM’S PLAN FOR VACCINES FOR KIDS:
- “So based on these two facts—we don’t have full FDA approval, and we recognize the implementation challenges that schools and school leaders would face—that we are not moving to have a vaccine requirement for schools in this coming academic year and no sooner than July 2023,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said in an interview, reported The Associated Press.
- Christina Hildebrand, president and founder of A Voice for Choice Advocacy, a group that opposes vaccine mandates, told AP, “From a perspective of keeping children in schools, this was the right move. The number of children that are unvaccinated, and if they were removed from school, would have been a much bigger disaster.”
BACKGROUND:
- A vaccine requirement was created in October 2021, making California the first state to require vaccines for attendance.
- However, that mandate won’t come into effect due to the FDA not yet fully approving vaccines for those in the 7-12 grades.
- Currently, Pfizer’s vaccine is the only one available for those under 18, and it’s only authorized for emergency use.
- No vaccine has full approval for those younger than 16, according to The Epoch Times.
