The school boards for Oakland and West Contra Costa Unified are voting next week on whether to require mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for all staff and eligible students 12 and older.
These districts, the largest in the Bay Area, would become the first in Northern California to require vaccinations, according to reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle. In Southern California, Los Angeles and Culver City school districts have already passed similar mandates.
Around 50,000 students are enrolled in Oakland Unified and West Contra Costa Unified serves more than 28,000 students in the cities of Richmond, El Cerrito, Hercules, Pinole and San Pablo, as well as several unincorporated areas.
In West Contra Costa Unified, the measure would require staff to get their first dose by Oct. 3 and their second by Oct. 31, or be placed on unpaid leave until they do so. Students would have until Nov. 21 to get their first shots, and until Dec. 19 for the second.
Students who turn 12 would have 30 days after their birthdays to get their first shot.
In Oakland, school board member Benjamin "Sam" Davis introduced the proposal after a huge spike in new infections at the start of the new school year.
But Oakland school board president Shanthi Gonzales is wary of the mandate, and said she would likely abstain from voting on the measure.
"It’s coming from the right place," Gonzales said of the mandate proposal, but added that she worries about “the message it could send,” especially to families of color who may be more dubious of the vaccine.
California will require public school staff to either be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing beginning next month but there is no similar statewide rule regarding students.
