The new statewide mandate applies to people working in kindergarten to 12th grade
California has become the first state in the US to require that all school teachers and staff be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Educators who do not provide proof of vaccination will be required to take weekly Covid-19 tests.
The new mandate applies to employees working in kindergarten through 12th grade and will go into effect on Thursday. The deadline for full compliance is set for October 15.
California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the statewide policy at a school in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday.
‘We think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children,’ said Newsom.
The governor added, ‘We think it’ll be well-received to keep our most precious resource healthy and safe’. He specified that he was referring to ‘our children’.
Newsom’s announcement comes days after some large school districts including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Long Beach Unified implemented similar policies. Prior to Wednesday, Newsom had issued a mandate for mask-wearing for teachers and students in indoor settings, but had left vaccine requirements to the school districts to decide.
Randi Weingarten, president of American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest teachers union in the country, on Sunday said that ‘circumstances have changed’.
‘It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can’t get vaccinated,’ Weingarten said.
In California, Los Angeles County and other localities have already re-imposed mask-wearing policies amid a surge in coronavirus cases driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.
Public and private companies have announced vaccination mandates in recent weeks. Google, Microsoft, Disney and Tyson Foods issued vaccine requirements for employees to comply by in order to return to the workplace.
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