California Ending Plans for K-12 COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate?

It’s not time to celebrate yet

With the California State of Emergency ending this month, it seems lawmakers are tabling their efforts to require the COVID-19 vaccine for K-12 students to attend school for the 2023-2024 school year. According to EdSource:

The California Department of Public Health hasn’t made an announcement, but officials told EdSource that the end of the state’s Covid-19 state of emergency on Feb. 28 effectively ends its current plan to add Covid-19 vaccinations to the list of 10 vaccinations children are required to have to attend school in person.

“We continue to strongly recommend Covid-19 immunization for students and staff to keep everyone safer in the classroom,” stated the email from the department. “Turnkey mobile vaccination services remain available for any K-12 school within the state.”

The statement went on to say that any changes to required K-12 immunizations are properly addressed through the legislative process. There are no bills mandating school vaccinations currently pending in the Legislature.

This should be cause to celebrate, but we can’t help but be cautiously optimistic of the their plans. We know that several bills were introduced last year attempting to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the childhood schedule, lower the age of consent for vaccines to 12 years old, and remove any personal belief exemptions. We have every reason to believe iterations of these bills, and others, will be presenting during this legislative session.

School districts and parents across the state are frustrated with the lack of communication from the Governor and CDPH about whether this mandate will go into effect before the next school year. From EdSource:

The vaccine mandate was to begin as soon as the vaccine was fully approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for each age group: juveniles ages 12-17; and children ages 5-11. July 1 was the earliest the mandate was expected to begin.

Currently, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, including the bivalent booster, have an emergency use authorization for children 6 months of age and older, but have not been fully authorized by the FDA. The two-dose primary series of Novavax Covid vaccines has emergency use authorization for people ages 12 and older.

Since March 2020 when schools were closed in response to the pandemic, the deaths of 92 children ages 17 and younger have been associated with Covid-19, according to the California Department of Public Health.

The Unity Project is working on our 2023 Bad Bills Campaign to monitor and educate people statewide when new bills are introduced. Last year’s campaign reached 86% of counties in California and this year we are expanding into states across the country to bring awareness to what is happening in local legislature. To stay informed, sign up for our newsletter here.

Timeline of Child COVID-19 Vaccination Actions from CDPH and CDC

October 1, 2021 - California becomes first state in nation to announce COVID-19 vaccine requirements for K-12 schools

After implementing first-in-the-nation school masking and staff vaccination measures, California becomes the first state to announce plans to require student vaccinations – adding the COVID-19 vaccine to list of vaccinations required for school, such as the vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella

Students will be required to be vaccinated for in person learning starting the term following FDA full approval of the vaccine for their grade span (7-12 and K-6).

April 14, 2022 - California Department of Public Health (CDHP) pushes COVID-19 vaccine requirement for K-12 schools to July 1, 2023

CDHP Statement:

The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet fully approved COVID-19 vaccines for individuals of all ages within the 7–12 grade span. The State of California announced last October that full approval by the FDA was a precondition to initiating the rulemaking process to add the COVID-19 vaccine to other vaccinations required for in-person school attendance—such as measles, mumps, and rubella—pursuant to California’s Health and Safety Code. To ensure sufficient time for successful implementation of new vaccine requirements, California will not initiate the regulatory process for a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for the 2022-2023 school year and as such, any vaccine requirements would not take effect until after full FDA approval and no sooner than July 1, 2023.

October 27, 2022 - CDC paves way for California to require school COVID vaccines — but lawmakers have given up for now

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control decided to list COVID-19 among the vaccines it recommends for children, but each state decides whether to adopt those guidelines. It’s unclear what California will do, given the past controversies over children’s vaccines and the COVID vaccine in particular.

December 8, 2022 - CDC publishes interim COVID-19 Immunization Schedule for persons 6 months of age and older