State Health Department Announces End of Student COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) confirmed in a statement on Friday that the statewide COVID-19 student vaccination requirement will not be going into effect. Additionally, most statewide COVID-19 mandates are set to end at the end of the month.

The question of whether or not to require students to take the COVID-19 vaccination to attend  K-12 schools, similar for the current required vaccinations for rubella, polio and other diseases, has been debated on for the past two years. In 2021, the state set up vaccination requirements for all teachers and school staff, while student requirements for vaccinations differed by school district. While many rural and suburban school districts opted against vaccination requirements, many larger ones, such as Los Angeles and San Diego, opted for mandates for students ages 12 and above.

As a result, efforts to introduce a uniform statewide student mandate and letting parents decide on vaccinations formed. Backlash against student mandates also caused a significant rise in students being homeschooled, adding pressure against a statewide mandate.

The next year, bills introduced in the California legislature in an attempt to install a statewide student mandate around the Public Health Department, while Governor Gavin Newsom continued to push making the vaccine a requirement for attending in-person classes.

However, declining COVID-19 rates, questions over what final vaccine to require, and a growing backlash from parents and school officials slowed down the effort.

By the time Governor Newsom announced that the COVID-19 State of Emergency would be ending this month last October, the mandatory vaccine effort had largely halted. But whether or not the Department of Public Health would add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of required shots remained one of the few open questions, with the state dodging the question for months as the emergency order end date grew closer.

Speculation ended on Friday when the CDPH announced that the COVID-19 vaccination would not be added to the list of required vaccination for children attending school.

“CDPH is not currently exploring emergency rulemaking to add COVID-19 to the list of required school vaccinations, but we continue to strongly recommend COVID-19 immunization for students and staff to keep everyone safer in the classroom,” said the CDPH in a statement on Friday. “Any changes to required K-12 immunizations are properly addressed through the legislative process.”

Many state officials celebrated the decision on Friday. Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-CA), who was one of the leading opponents against Californian COVID-19 policies while serving in the Assembly until his election to Congress last year, gave a succinct response in a Twitter post: “California’s COVID vaccine mandate for K-12 students is being withdrawn, having never taken effect. To all the parents who joined together and fought back: We won. To Gavin Newsom: You lost.”

California’s COVID vaccine mandate for K-12 students is being withdrawn, having never taken effect.

To all the parents who joined together and fought back: We won. To Gavin Newsom: You lost.

— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) February 2, 2023

On the local level, many parents and school officials were also happy with the decision.

“We fought hard against this,” added Cheryl Bowers, a parent in a San Diego suburb who helped organize against a mandate. “They thought they could steamroller us on and this and put in required COVID vaccines without us putting up a fight. Well, we did. For nearly two years. And we won today. They gave this announcement quietly for a reason.”

More COVID-19 restrictions are expected to end throughout the month in a leadup to the end of the COVID-19 State of Emergency on the 28th.