At a press conference held this morning, Governor Newsom announced students attending schools in California will be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
As the Governor's Office did not make this information available until this morning, we were unaware of this development. However, we will be conferring with our state and local agencies to provide you with the details of the governor's new mandate as more information becomes available.
In the meantime, based on the announcement made by the governor today, the following information was provided:
- The COVID-19 vaccine will be treated similarly to the ten vaccines on the list already required by California law for students attending K-12 schools.
- This mandate would not apply until COVID-19 vaccines are given full authorization by the FDA, which could come as early as November for children 12 to 17 years old (with authorization for younger children likely in early 2022).
- Depending on the date of full FDA authorization, the governor is targeting either January 1, 2022, or July 1, 2022, for adding COVID-19 to the list of required vaccines.
- This COVID-19 vaccination requirement will be for students attending school for in-person instruction. A student who is not vaccinated may remain enrolled in independent study but may not attend in-person instruction.
- The COVID-19 vaccination requirement will be implemented utilizing a phased approach:
- Phase 1: Students in Grades 7-12 (ages 12+)
- Phase 2: Students in Grades K-6
- According to the governor, there may be exemptions such as:
- Medical reasons
- Personal beliefs
We understand that families may have questions about this announcement, so please feel free to call our district office at 760-245-1691. Although the full details of the program have not been released, we'll answer as many questions as we can. And as always, we will update you as soon we have more information. Thanks for all you do - we appreciate our entire VESD family!