Student athletes and other extracurricular participants in the Los Angeles Unified School district who are not yet vaccinated against COVID-19 are unable to participate after missing Sunday’s deadline.
It comes as playoffs begin this week.
The district announced its mandate in early September. Students who were old enough to be eligible for the vaccination were required to receive their first dose by Oct. 3, and be fully vaccinated no later than Oct. 31.
The district revised the mandate so it did not initially apply to non-sports related activities and didn’t affect middle schools.
“The decision was made to focus just on athletics because of the competitive nature of those sports and because they’re traveling,” Sara Mooney LAUSD ‘s coordinator of civic engagement told the L.A. Times. “And because, both in county data and our own data, when we see outbreaks happening, it’s in those competitive sports.”
An estimated 70% of students who take part in school sports, band, and drill teams had already submitted proof they received at least one dose by last Tuesday, the L.A. Times reported.
But data from Oct. 20 – a week earlier – revealed about 41% of sports teams had less than half of their players vaccinated, the newspaper said.
California became the first state to issue a statewide vaccination mandate for students this month.
Around 70% of students doing sports, band, and drill submitted proof that they received at least one dose as of Oct. 25, the L.A. Times reported. In the Oct. 20 data, 41% of sports teams had less than half of team members vaccinated.
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