California Will Start Requiring Students To Get COVID Vaccine

Tuolumne County Public Health Image

Sacramento, CA — Once it receives full FDA authorization, Governor Gavin Newsom says the COVID-19 vaccine will be required for all k-12 students who are in classroom settings.

In the school term immediately after FDA approval, it will be required for students in grades 7-12, and then shortly after that for students in K-6.

In announcing the directive, Governor Newsom noted that California was the first state to require masking in school settings and for school staff members to be vaccinated. He argues, “As you know, we have not been shy, and continue to lean in.

He says that 63-percent of the state’s youth between the ages of 12-17 have received at least one dose of the vaccine. Those under 12 are not yet eligible.

Newsom says the COVID vaccine will be added to the list of 10 others that are currently required for students to attend school.

Tuolumne County’s vaccination rate, sitting at just over 50-percent of those eligible, is much lower than  the state average, which is over 70-percent. We reported earlier there have also been a pair of recent Freedom Rallies at Sonora’s Courthouse Park in opposition to any vaccine mandates.