Los Angeles’s school board has voted to mandate vaccines for students ages 12 and up, a rare vaccine mandate targeting children as administrators continue to debate COVID-19 protocols amid school reopenings.
The Los Angeles Unified School District will require all eligible students to be fully vaccinated before Jan. 10, 2022. Students who participate in extracurricular programs must be fully vaccinated no later than Oct. 31, while all other eligible students must get fully vaccinated before Dec. 19, the district announced Thursday.
“The science is clear — vaccinations are an essential part of protection against COVID-19,” Interim Superintendent Megan Reilly said. “The COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and requiring eligible students to be vaccinated is the strongest way to protect our school community.”
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Students below that age threshold must get their first doses of the vaccine within 30 days of their 12th birthdays and be fully vaccinated within eight weeks of their birthdays, the district said. Students who cannot get the vaccine may submit exemption requests to their schools.
The Los Angeles school board is not the first school system to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine among its students. The Culver City Unified School District in west Los Angeles County requires all eligible students among its population of 7,000 to comply with its vaccine mandate by Nov. 19.
Tensions among parents, school administrators, and government officials have resulted in varying local ordinances regarding COVID-19 protocols in schools. Several states have attempted to ban mask mandates among its schools, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attempting to ban mask mandates in the state of Florida, though enforcement of his executive order was prohibited by a county judge on Wednesday. Other states, such as New York and California, have mandated mask use in classrooms in an effort to curb the disease’s spread.
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Stringent COVID-19 protocols have also been met with controversy beyond the classroom. After President Joe Biden rolled out a sweeping vaccine mandate for federal workers Thursday, the announcement was criticized by many on the Right, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
Los Angeles has struggled to keep COVID-19 cases under control amid the rise of the highly transmissible delta variant. The county saw 2,218 new cases on Thursday, with 49 deaths attributed to the disease, according to the county’s Department of Public Health.
