Topline
A California state senator announced a new bill Monday that would require all school children ages 5 and up to be vaccinated for Covid-19, exceeding the requirements of Governor Gavin Newsom’s mandate following a record-breaking, omicron-fueled outbreak in schools as kids returned from winter break.
Key Facts
The bill, named the “Keep Schools Open and Safe Act,” would add the Covid-19 vaccine to California’s list of required inoculations for any child attending a California K-12 school.
If the bill is passed, it would supersede Newsom’s mandate, which only requires the vaccine for grades 7-12 and can be refused by parents through a personal beliefs exemption.
Newsom’s mandate will not take effect until the Food and Drug Administration fully approves Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine for children ages 12 and up, as it is only emergency-approved for children ages 5-15.
The new bill would apply to any child ages 5 and up attending a California school, would take effect immediately regardless of the shot’s authorization status and can only be refused through a medical exemption.
The bill is expected to receive heavy pushback from anti-mandate groups, though bills for other vaccine mandates have been passed in California despite this opposition.
Key Background
The bill, proposed by state Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), follows another first-of-its-kind proposal from state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco): on Thursday, Wiener introduced Senate Bill 866 which would allow California minors ages 12 and up to receive vaccines (Covid-19 or otherwise) without authorization from their parent or guardian. A record number of California children were hospitalized with Covid-19 earlier this month, at one point seeing 90 pediatric admissions in a single day. This figure still falls far below adult hospitalization rates, and cases appear to be less severe. The state’s positivity rate among children has dropped from its peak of 17% in recent days following the omicron variant surge, and school attendance has improved.
Tangent
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams told CNN’s “State of the Union” he is considering a Covid-19 vaccine requirement for students for the fall 2022 semester. “In this country, we do vaccinate for smallpox, measles and other things,” Adams said. “We’re going to sit down and determine if we’re going to roll that out.”
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