On Oct. 1, at the James Denman Middle School in San Francisco, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced the new vaccine mandate for kids attending private and public schools. The question regarding whether people should be getting the COVID-19 vaccines has been present even before the vaccines were approved. However, the numbers of people being vaccinated will be rising rapidly soon.

Just as the Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine, TDAP (Tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine, Hepatitis B vaccine, and more are required to enter kindergarten and/or middle school, the COVID-19 shot will now also be among them.  

Since there are currently no available vaccines for kids ages under 12, the governor has stated that this mandate for this age group will be put in place once these children are safe to get them. At the moment, Pfizer and Moderna are both working on their vaccine trials to kids aged 5 to 11. 

“At the urging of federal regulators, two coronavirus vaccine makers are expanding the size of their clinical trials for children ages 5 to 11”, as quoted from the New York Times. 

The reason for this is to carefully ascertain whether or not the vaccines will cause rare side effects such as heart inflammation. 

For school children ages 12 and up, this mandate will be enforced most likely by next July. In Los Angeles, these deadlines are even earlier, with the vaccine mandate to be applied by January 2022. 

Although this mandate is for students, Newsom stated clearly that he wishes that everyone who is a part of the school district would get vaccinated. 

“We also want to see all of our staff, paraprofessionals, not just teachers, bus drivers, custodial staff, and all the folks that really make the school system operational; also see them get vaccinated as well,” Newsom said. 

He added that everyone wants to get back to normal, but that is only possible with everyone being vaccinated.  

This mandate has brought a lot of controversy from parents around California. 

“‘I have children ranging from 5 to 16 years old and I completely disagree and will not comply, we’re going to work on our own way to have our children be in school,’ said Tanya,” as quoted from CBS8 News.

On the other hand, Carlos Zermeno, father to a 5-year-old and a 5-month-old, said that although he is not completely sure, he would still side with the mandate as of now.

“It was such a hard time when they were out of school, home schooling, that was tough enough with two parents working,” said Zermeno.

Whether people agree with it or not, it will be a requirement soon, and though there may be exemptions for religious or personal beliefs, those have not been set yet. California and Governor Newsom will expect to see a rise in vaccination numbers, alongside a decrease in COVID cases.

Photo courtesy of TRUCKINGINFO.COM