California’s Governor Gavin Newsom made an announcement on a coronavirus vaccination requirement for the students, pending the FDA’s approval. The measure caused California to be the first US state to announce this kind of requirement for its students.
As per the FDA’s emergency use authorization (EUA), Pfizer’s vaccine may be injected into students aged 12 and above, but the agency has not approved it for those aged 12-15 years. There are ongoing clinical trials for younger populations that have not been offered that kind of authorization.
Governor Newsom is not only expecting approval for those younger people but would also necessitate vaccinations for students like how California requires it for rubella, mumps and measles.
Newsom stated that as California necessitates students to be vaccinated against rubella-, mumps- and measles-inducing viruses, it would make the same measure for coronavirus. He added that the requirement is about keeping school staffers and children in California safe against the virus and in their classrooms. He also remarked that California has the least case rates and is leading the nation in keeping school closures from happening, since vaccines work. Therefore, he encouraged non-California states to introduce the same measure to not just protect school children but also prevent the transmission of coronavirus.
As per the press office of Governor Newsom, 95% of California’s students have come back to in-person education, although 14 state schools were made to close in the epidemic period.
California is the first US state to necessitate masks for school goers. Many Los Angeles County districts have gone one step further as those required campuses to implement COVID-19 cleaning and safety guidelines.
As of October 02, 2021, LAC reported that 825 individuals were hospitalized with coronavirus disease. The number of hospitalizations came down by over 100 people from the earlier Sunday.
