IT’S OVER: California Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for KIDS

California has quietly shelved its plan to require K-12 students to be vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine.

Close to 14 months ago Governor Gavin Newsom declared a vaccination mandate would be put in place to force students that attend public schools to have the Covid-19 vaccine.

After months of delays due to pushback from several communities, the mandate was never put into effect and now the mandate has been completely dropped.

Ed Source broke the story and confirmed the mandate would be dropped after the outlet received details from California officials.

California will no longer require children to be vaccinated against COVID in order to attend school https://t.co/hbzb1BDoyE

— MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) February 6, 2023

Redlands Daily Facts reported more on the story:

With the pandemic emergency quickly winding down, California officials appear to have quietly backed away from plans to require COVID-19 vaccinations for K-12 school students, a move that avoids the prospect of barring tens of thousands of unvaccinated children from the classroom.

The shift comes 14 months after Gov. Gavin Newsom visited a San Francisco middle school to declare plans to make California the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for its more than 6 million students.

The vaccine mandate, initially expected to kick in last summer, was put off another 12 months amid flagging youth vaccination rates that opened a debate over how the requirement would disproportionately punish disadvantaged students already struggling to recover academically and emotionally from pandemic school lockdowns.

Now, with no announcement or explanation, the administration appears to be quietly dropping the COVID-19 immunization mandate altogether. The education news site EdSource reported Feb. 1 that the state would no longer pursue it, citing unnamed officials. When the Bay Area News Group asked whether the state was dropping plans for the mandate, the California Department of Public Health would not directly answer but did not dispute the EdSource report, noting that “emergency regulations are not being pursued.”

California children will no longer need the COVID-19 vaccinated to attend school, state officials announced Friday.

Almost all of California's COVID-19 restrictions have ended, and the state's emergency declaration will end on Feb. 28 https://t.co/kosoz2l7Aa

— Axios (@axios) February 5, 2023

Axios reported more on the story:

California children will no longer need the COVID-19 vaccine to attend school, state officials announced Friday.

Almost all of California’s COVID-19 restrictions have ended, and the state’s emergency declaration will end on Feb. 28.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced the mandate in 2021, saying it would apply to 6.7 million public and private schoolchildren.

Students won't be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, California health officials say. https://t.co/QXzaNmIzNh

— FOX40 News (@FOX40) February 4, 2023