Headline Roundup • October 1st, 2021
California Becomes First State to Announce COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement for K-12 Schools
Coronavirus,California,Vaccine Mandates,Coronavirus Vaccine,Gavin Newsom,Schools,Education,Public Health
Summary from the AllSides News Team
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that the state would require COVID-19 vaccination for school children, becoming the first U.S. state to do so. “The state already requires that students are vaccinated against viruses that cause measles, mumps, and rubella – there’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for COVID-19,” Newsom said. The new vaccine mandate is limited to in-person learning recipients and will begin with the first full school year after the FDA fully authorizes a COVID-19 vaccine for children. The mandate will initially be limited to children 12 and up in grades 7-12 and will later be extended to those entering kindergarten.
Coverage was widespread across the spectrum on Friday evening, with most outlets framing the policy as the first “vaccine mandate” for U.S. school children. Headlines in right-rated outlets were more likely to attribute the mandate directly to Gavin Newsom.
Featured Coverage of this Story

AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a mandate Friday requiring all eligible public-school students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend in-person classes — the first statewide order of its kind in the nation, according to a report.
The requirement is set to take effect for students in seventh through 12th grades as soon as January, after the Food and Drug Administration grants the vaccine full approval for kids over age 12, the governor’s office said, according to the LA Times.
In the first such action in the nation, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a mandate Friday requiring all eligible public and private schoolchildren in California to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy the state expects to affect millions of students.
The mandate would take effect for grades 7 through 12 as soon as the semester following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of the vaccine for children ages 12 and older, Newsom said. Students in kindergarten through sixth grade would be phased in after the vaccine is formally approved...

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
California is the first state in the country that will require schoolchildren to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
The statewide requirement adds to "a well-established list that currently includes 10 vaccinations," Newsom said at a press conference. "We want to get this disease behind us."
The mandate will apply to all who receive in-person instruction, Newsom said, and will begin in the first school term that follows full authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine for children by the US Food and Drug Administration — either in January...
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