SACRAMENTO, California. – Children in California don’t need to get the coronavirus vaccine to attend schools, state health officials confirmed Friday, ending one of the last major restrictions of the pandemic in the nation’s most populous state.
Governor Gavin Newsom first announced the policy in 2021 and said it would eventually apply to all of California’s 6.7 million public and private school children.
But since then, the crisis, first caused by a mysterious virus in late 2019, has largely faded from public consciousness. COVID-19 is still widespread, but the availability of multiple vaccines has eased the virus’ impact for many — relieving strain on previously overwhelmed public health systems.
Almost all of the pandemic restrictions Newsom put in place have been lifted, and he won’t be able to enact any new ones after Feb. 28, when the state’s coronavirus emergency declaration goes out officially ends.
One of the last remaining questions was what would happen to the state’s school children’s vaccination mandate, a directive that originated from the California Department of Health and Human Services and was unaffected by the lifting of the emergency declaration.
On Friday, the Health Ministry confirmed that it was withdrawing from its original plan.
“The CDPH is not currently investigating an emergency rule to add COVID-19 to the list of required school vaccinations, but we continue to strongly encourage students and staff to have COVID-19 vaccination to keep everyone in the classroom safe,” the department said in a Explanation . “Any changes to the required K-12 vaccinations will be given due consideration in the legislative process.”
The announcement was welcome news for Jonathan Zachreson, a father of three who lives in Roseville. Zachreson formed the group Reopen California Schools to oppose many of the state’s coronavirus guidelines. His activism led to his being elected to the Roseville City School District board of directors in November.
“It’s long overdue. … Many families have been stressed by this decision and have been concerned for some time,” he said. “I wish CDPH would make a major statement publicly or Newsom would make a public statement … to let families know and school districts know this will no longer be an issue for them.”
Newsom officials did not respond to an email seeking comment.
California has had a major impact on the country’s pandemic policy. It was the first state to enact a statewide stay-at-home order — and other states quickly followed.
But most states didn’t follow California when it came to public school vaccination mandates. Louisiana officials announced a similar mandate, but later withdrawn. Schools in the District of Columbia plan to require the COVID-19 vaccine starting in the fall.
US Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, a former state assemblyman who challenged Newsom in a 2021 recall attempt over its pandemic policies, published a blog post declaring, “We won. To Gavin Newsom: You lost.”
Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist representing most of the state’s school districts, said he doesn’t believe the policy change was the result of political pressure from Republicans, but rather a reflection of the virus’ slowing transmission rates.
“The public’s appetite for these types of mandates is definitely not what it used to be,” he said. “If you start issuing a heavy mandate now, when the amount of transmission is significantly less than nationwide, a one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t work right now.”
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