Protestors stand up against California’s school vaccine mandate; most Americans support requirement

Some protestors are pushing back against the nation's first coronavirus vaccine mandate for school children, right here in California.

At the time that KESQ cameras were on-site, about a dozen people protested outside of Desert Sands Unified School District headquarters on Monday morning as part of a planned walk-out across the state.

KESQ requested the absence numbers for today from the three local school districts.

DSUSD:

For DSUSD, the data shows that reported absences were down compared to the last three weeks at high school and middle schools, however, the district saw a bigger jump in elementary school absences.

• High Schools
  • 09/27 12.07%
  • 10/04 12.46 %
  • 10/11 12.37%
  • Today's 9.49% (uncertified)Middle Schools
• Middle Schools
  • 09/27 7.86%
  • 10/04 8.04%
  • 10/11 7.65%
  • Today 7.46% (uncertified)Elementary Schools
• Elementary Schools
  • 09/27 9.37%
  • 10/04 9.83%
  • 10/11 10.49%
  • Today 18.11% (uncertified)

DSUSD also reported that teacher attendance was consistent with a typical Monday

PSUSD:

District officials said they had not heard of any student walkouts as of 4:12 p.m.

"We didn't have any students walk out of classes or walk off-campus during the school day," said Joan Boiko, district spokesperson.

CVUSD:

CVUSD officials also said they didn't have any students walk out of classes.

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California is poised to impose the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine mandate for schoolchildren, a move announced in early October. It could push other states to follow as many did after Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered the first statewide stay-at-home order in the U.S. during the early days of the pandemic.

Most Americans support mask mandates and vaccine requirements

A majority of Americans said they support mask mandates for students and teachers in K-12 schools in an August poll, but their views are sharply divided along political lines.

About 6 in 10 Americans say students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Similar shares say teachers and eligible students should also be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

California’s largest teachers' unions back the vaccination mandate, as does the California Association of School Boards.

When could vaccine mandate go into effect?

Newsom said the mandate won’t take effect for all children until the U.S. government has finished fully vetting the vaccine for two age groups — 12 to 15 and 5 to 11. That means those in seventh to 12th grades probably will have until July to get their shots. It will be even longer for children in kindergarten through sixth grades because the government has yet to approve any COVID-19 vaccine for that age group.

The vaccine mandate also would apply to teachers and staff in K-12 public and private schools. Newsom already had required them to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, but once the mandate for students takes effect, the testing option won’t be available for teachers anymore.

The mandate eventually will affect more than 6.7 million public and private school students in the nation’s most populous state. California already has a mask requirement for schoolchildren.

California law requires all children enrolled in public and private schools to have 10 immunizations, with exceptions for medical reasons. For the coronavirus vaccine, California will grant exemptions for medical reasons, plus religious and personal beliefs. The rules for those exemptions will be written after the state hears comments from the public. Any student without an exemption who refuses to get the vaccine would be forced to do independent study at home.

“This is not a new idea. We already require vaccines against several known deadly diseases before students can enroll in schools,” said Dr. Peter N. Bretah, president of the California Medical Association. “The Newsom administration is simply extending existing public health protections to cover this new disease, which has caused so much pain and suffering across our state, our nation and the entire globe over the last 18 months.”

Newsom said districts can “accelerate” the requirements, and he expected many will.

The federal government has fully approved coronavirus vaccines for anyone over 16 and has given emergency authorization to vaccinate those 12 to 15. Full endorsement for that age group is likely within a few months. Vaccines for children 5 to 11 are still in the testing stage.

California has one of the highest vaccine rates in the country — 84% of people 12 and older have gotten at least one shot, and 70% are fully vaccinated.

A small number of school districts nationwide have imposed their own vaccine mandates, including five in California. Among those are the state’s two largest districts — Los Angeles and San Diego.

Until this month, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to local school districts, leading to a variety of different orders. In Los Angeles, a vaccine mandate for eligible students is set to take effect in January.