Vaccine Mandate Proposed For CA Schoolchildren: Readers Weigh In

CALIFORNIA — California's schoolchildren may be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine should a new piece of legislation become law — and this time parents wouldn't be able to opt out based on personal belief. In a nonscientific poll, we asked readers to weigh in on the proposed law, which would be one of the strictest vaccine mandates yet.

Some 73 percent of respondents were against the proposed mandate, while just 25.8 percent were for it. Just over 1 percent were unsure.

The survey — which drew more than 4,900 voters and appeared in questionnaire form this week on Patch — is meant not to be a scientific poll but only to give a broad idea of public sentiment.

State Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) unveiled the bill Monday.

"As the parent of two school students, I understand parents need confidence and certainty that their child’s school is safe and can be in-person," Pan said in a statement. "The most effective way to keep schools open and safe is to ensure the COVID vaccination rate of students and school staff is as high as possible in addition to masks, testing, and good ventilation to minimize infections."

Of the 4,909 respondents, 50 percent of participants said they had a child over the age of 12 attending a K-12 school in California.

Of the 2,399 respondents who said they had a child over the age of 12 in California's school system, 65.1 percent said their child was not vaccinated while 34.9 percent said they were vaccinated.

The new law would close a loophole in the California's vaccine mandate for K-12 students. Pan, a pediatrician, has been one of the state's most vocal advocates for vaccination among school children.

We asked readers: Do you believe schoolchildren should be vaccinated against COVID-19?

• 63.7 percent said "no."
• 28.7 percent said "yes."
• 7.6 percent said "not sure."

The bill would override Gov. Gavin Newsom's vaccination mandate for school children, which would not take effect until after federal officials fully approve shots for children ages 12 and up. In the interim, an emergency order allows authorization for ages 5 to 15.

"We need to make sure schools are safe so that all parents are comfortable sending their children to school,” Pan said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "And we want to keep schools open."

Unlike Newsom's mandate, Pan's bill would not allow for parents to opt out their children by citing personal or religious beliefs.

Under state law, only the state legislature may remove the personal belief exemption.

The new bill would require all students from K-12 grades to be vaccinated beginning Jan. 1 and parents would need a medical exemption to skip the doses.

We asked readers to share their thoughts on the issue:

"I believe that as parents we should be able to make our decision about our kids vaccinations and it will be up to us to choose yes or no especially for the COVID-19 I feel like natural immunity is way better than getting the Covid vaccine which is not protecting us from not getting the flu that is it!!"

"Why should this vaccine be any different? We require others and this is really needed now."

"It should be optional, just like the flu shot."

"Medical decisions for children should always be the parents choice. The government is overreaching here."

"Medicine is not 'one size fits all' — parents should make medical decisions with their chosen doctors. The state lawmakers have no business making these sweeping decisions..."

"I am a high school teacher with 86% of the students in the classes I teach vaccinated. All but one of them is absent right now for "possible exposure" and not returning to school for ten days. They all need to be vaccinated to be in public schools."

"My daughter is autistic and I am opting out. Also she already had it. I will choose not to get it for her at this time but maybe in the future."

"Public schools have required vaccines for decades. This is the same."

"We're in the middle of a pandemic, and every day that they're not getting vaccinated they're more vulnerable,” Pan said at a news conference last week.

The bill is expected to be met with much opposition from those who argue that vaccination decisions should be left to legal guardians and parents.

READ MORE: COVID Infection More Protective Than Vaccines Alone In CA

Pan's bill is the second piece of vaccine-related legislation to be proposed this month. Last week, Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced SB 866, which allows children 12 years and older to become inoculated without parental consent.

"Giving young people the autonomy to receive life-saving vaccines, regardless of their parents’ beliefs or work schedules, is essential for their physical and mental health," Wiener wrote in a statement.

Under existing law, those 12 and 17 cannot be vaccinated without parental consent.

Wiener's legislation is not a mandate, but any vaccination legislation has been a point of contention in California and across the nation.

Pan, Wiener and other legislators recently formed a "work group" to examine ways to promote vaccines and fight misinformation. Members include Sen. Josh Newman; and Assembly members Dr. Akilah Weber, Buffy Wicks, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, and Evan Low.

Even before the pandemic, busloads of opponents filled the state Capital and lined up for hours to protest bills lifting religious and personal beliefs for the 10 vaccines already required of school children.

And in September, more than a thousand people rallied outside the Capital to oppose vaccine mandates, even though California lawmakers had postponed their consideration of legislation requiring that workers either be vaccinated or get weekly coronavirus testing to keep their jobs.

"This to me seems to be another example of Democrats wanting to remove parents from the equation," said Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher. "I think that’s flawed policy. I think parents are vital to these decisions."

However, he thinks Wiener may have difficulty getting his bill passed even in a Legislature overwhelmingly controlled by Democrats.

“I think there will be bipartisan support for the proposition that parents should be involved in their kids' health care decisions, in deciding what types of medical care and drugs they should be taking,” Gallagher said.

Children age 5 and up are currently eligible for coronavirus vaccines, but 28.6 percent of California residents ages 12-17 remain unvaccinated — more than 900,000 of an eligible population of more than 3 million, or more than one in four, Wiener said at a news conference last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

READ MORE:

• Will California’s New School Data System Really Work?
• 6 Things To Know About Omicron's Risks On The Job In CA
• Omicron Worsens Teacher Shortage As More CA Schools Close
• More CA Children Hospitalized In Omicron Surge Amid Low Vax Rates