On Friday, October 1st, 2021 Governor Newsom announced that the Covid-19 vaccine will be a requirement for all public and private school children. The vaccine will also be added to the current list of 10 vaccinations that are required to attend school in-person for all public and private schools. With this new order, California has become the first state to mandate the vaccine for school children. The mandate will still need the approval of the FDA in order to be officially carried out which could be July 1, 2022, but as soon as Jan 1, 2022. 

The mandate will go into effect in two phases. The first phase will be for students in grades seventh through twelfth and aged twelve and older. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade will be in the second phase after the vaccine has been approved for their age group.

The Covid-19 vaccine will be the only vaccine that will allow parents to cite personal beliefs in refusing to vaccinate their children against it. Under state law, the exemption for personal beliefs would have to be granted because the new vaccination requirement is being imposed through a regulatory process rather than Legislature. The governor and legislators could pass a law at a later date eliminating the personal belief exemption for the vaccine. 

For the parents that do not submit a waiver for a medical or personal belief exemption for the vaccine, they will not be allowed to enroll their students in in-person classes on campus. The unvaccinated students will have the option of enrolling in a fully online school, attend an independent- study program offered by the district or be home-schooled.

Currently, the Covid-19 vaccine has been fully approved by the FDA for those that are 16 and older. Under the emergency authorization, individuals between 12 and 15 are eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It will be up to schools and districts to enforce the mandate. Governor Newsom stated that he wants to give schools enough time to work out their verification and compliance processes. He also wants families to have enough time to obtain the immunization. 

Experts are stating that failure to vaccinate adolescents and teens will prolong the pandemic.