The California Teachers Association is expressing full support of Gov. Gavin Newsom's mandate that all students in California get vaccinated for COVID-19.
The mandate will require public and private students at "elementary and secondary schools" to be vaccinated for in-person learning starting the academic term or semester, either Jan. 1 or July 1 of next year, following approval from the FDA of the vaccine for their age group.
"The COVID-19 vaccine is a proven measure to prevent life-threatening illness, keeping schools safe and open for in-person instruction, and will get us closer to being able to put this devastating pandemic behind us," said the union's President E. Toby Boyd in a statement issued Friday morning, just after Newsom’s announcement.
The union has long called for access to vaccines, testing and multi-layered safety measures in order to be reunited with our students in our classrooms, according to the statement.
With increasing innovation in research, Boyd said the vaccine for children is the next step toward ensuring the health and safety of our schools and communities consistent with other vaccine requirements in schools. The union does recognize the need for medical and religious exemptions, the statement said.
Currently, 90% of the association’s members are vaccinated, and a majority supports a vaccine mandate for students and staff, according to the statement.
The mandate is merely continuing the efforts that other school districts have started.
"Phasing in the implementation timeline will allow local districts to prepare with families and educators and offer schools a vaccination site," said Boyd. "Working together we can and will beat the deadly coronavirus that has claimed nearly 70,000 Californians and 700,000 lives in the U.S."
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