California pushes 1st US vaccine mandate for schoolchildren

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday announced the nation's first coronavirus vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, requiring that all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the United States government for different age groups.

The government has fully approved the COVID-19 vaccine for those 16 and over but only granted an emergency authorisation for anyone 12 to 15.

Once federal regulators fully approve it for that group, the state will require students in seventh through 12th grades to get vaccinated in both public and private schools.

Newsom said he expects that requirement to be in place by July 1.

California will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students in kindergarten through sixth grades after it gets final federal approval for children 5 to 11.

“We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it,” the Democratic governor told reporters at a San Francisco middle school.

The announcement comes as infections in most of California have dropped markedly in the last month. Newsom has been emboldened after easily defeating a recall effort last month following a campaign where he emphasised his commitment to vaccine mandates to end the pandemic.

In Los Angeles County — the nation's largest, with more than 10 million residents — just 1.7% of people tested for the virus have it and daily infections are down by half in the last month, when most kids went back to school.

“These numbers are amazingly low given that 3,000-plus schools are now open countywide,” county Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday.

She noted that though the number of outbreaks in schools has increased slightly in recent weeks, the overall number is small and largely related to youth sports.

The state's vaccine mandate for schoolchildren would take effect the semester after the federal government grants final approval.

If it comes in January, then the mandate would take effect in July.

Students would be granted religious and medical exemptions, but the rules for how the state would apply them have not been written yet.

Any student who refuses to take the vaccine would be forced to complete an independent study course at home.

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