Los Angeles Unified School District staff will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the school board decided Tuesday.
In a 6-1 vote, the board rescinded its vaccine mandate, which went into effect in October 2021. Superintendent Alberto Carvahlo said the decision was made because COVID is no longer the widespread emergency it once was.
“[The policy] was adopted so that schools could reopen safely,” he said during the meeting. “In 2023, we face vastly different circumstances. COVID-19 is now in an endemic phase.”
School board president Jackie Goldberg “reluctantly” voted to end the mandate, saying the decision could backfire if the district isn’t careful.
“We’re taking a chance that we’re monitoring this well and that we’ll catch any outbreaks, but it is a chance,” she said. “I hope that we can keep track of this enough to make sure it stays endemic and doesn’t return to pandemic by people failing to vaccinate.”
While 99% of LAUSD teachers complied with the vaccine mandate, hundreds of LAUSD employees were terminated for refusing to get vaccinated. Others were reassigned to virtual classrooms. Those staff could now be invited to return to campus or reapply for open positions.
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