California to require COVID-19 vaccines for schoolchildren

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California will become the first U.S. state to require COVID-19 vaccinations for children to attend public and private schools in person in a mandate that could effect millions of students.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that the coronavirus shot will be added to 10 other immunizations already required for school kids, including those for measles and mumps.

Exemptions would be granted for medical reasons or because of religious or personal beliefs but the exemption rules haven't been written yet pending public comment.

Any student without an exemption who refuses to get the vaccine would be forced to do independent study at home.

“We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it,” Newsom said during a news conference at a San Francisco middle school after visiting with seventh graders.

“Vaccines work. It’s why California leads the country in preventing school closures and has the lowest case rates," Newsom said.

The mandate will be phased in as the U.S. government grants final vaccine approval for age groups. Currently, children 12 to 15 can only get the Pfizer vaccine under an emergency authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Vaccines for children 5 to 11 are still in the testing stage.

Under California's mandate, students in seventh to 12th grades would have to be vaccinated by the semester following full U.S. approval of the shots for their age group, probably meaning by next July. It will be even longer for children in kindergarten through sixth grades.

The mandate eventually will affect more than 6.7 million public and private school students in the nation’s most populous state. California already has a mask requirement for schoolchildren.

Until now, Newsom had left the decision on student vaccine mandates to...