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Governor Newsom Mandates the Vaccine for California Students

Chevy Sousa

Oct 20, 2021

Starting September 28th, Governor Newsom approved the state of California to require kids 12 and up to get the COVID-19 vaccine to go to school.

Starting September 28th, Governor Newsom approved the state of California to require kids 12 and up to get the COVID-19 vaccine to go to school. Newsom approved the mandate to ensure that schools can stay open and for families to feel safer about having their children in school. Studies show that the vaccines have great effects on the impact of Covid outbreaks and significantly reduce the spread. With covid cases on the rise and kids having to stay home to wait for their test, the mandate should be incredibly helpful to school districts and families, though many students and parents might be unhappy about this new mandate.
On September 29th, parents and students from San Diego gathered with signs in front of the San Diego Unified School District Headquarters to protest the mandate. Many who were protesting were worried about the long-term side effects of the vaccine and say they should have freedom of choice, but a survey disputed by Kaiser Permanente healthcare company, says that many families are willing to get the vaccine for their child. In the SoCo News article “Student Covid Vaccinations: California becomes first state to require them for kids 12 and up”, they state that “Upon FDA approval, students will have until the start of the following academic term, either January 1st or July 1st, to be fully vaccinated.” These dates will only affect grades 7 through 12 and the students who fail to get vaccinated by that time will not be allowed to go to school and will be put on independent studies.
The mandate is now in place for the larger districts and it will soon be approved for Sonoma County. Once in place, schools will make you show proof of vaccination in order to keep schools safe. HHS sophomore Ezra Seibel was asked about the issue and stated, “The vaccine is a good thing for people to get and can prevent Covid from spreading.” Another student, sophomore Julian Rodriguez, said “Everyone should get the vaccine to get these masks off and so we can enjoy school like we did before this whole pandemic happened.” Both students said that they didn’t really mind getting the vaccine and don’t understand why people are making such a big deal out of it. Until the county approves it for our district, the mandate is pending and future notices about it will be available soon.

Photo by: Daniel Paquet

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