Newsom Mandates COVID Vaccine in K-12 Schools

Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has become the first governor to make a statewide vaccine mandate for K-12 public school students. He’s the first, yes, but we can count on him not being the last as he inches us down this slippery slope.

It was an expected move, but it comes before the official full approval for ages 5+. The plan will affect grades 7-12, requiring children 12+ to go ahead and get the shot. Younger grades will also require vaccination following the FDA approval of their age groups, which are already in progress.

Parents across the country have been expecting this news, as most schools double back on mask mandates and distance learning. It’s a move that has caused an uproar in school board meetings across the country and subsequently stirred disapproval from democrats and teachers’ unions as more individuals voice their opinions against arbitrary COVID-19 safety measures.

It should be noted, the tension doesn’t stop at masking and vaccinating. Parental mistrust of public schools is growing as Biden’s Education Secretary, Miguel Cardinal, recently voiced the opinion that parents shouldn’t be the “primary stakeholders” in their children’s education. The statement bolsters widely held suspicions of the public school system and the role it, and the largest unions play, in the lives of America’s children.

Parents are scared, and they are angry. As mandates roll out and elected officials continue to scoff at parents’ rights in school, they fear their children will be vaccinated without permission and proper informed consent. To be clear, their fears aren’t unfounded. Parents have already filed lawsuits against Washington D.C. for allowing their children to be vaccinated without parental knowledge.

So with Newsom enforcing vaccine mandates in schools, fresh off a recall election, it’s only natural to assume other blue states will do the same. The consequences, however, are a little less predictable. With spikes in home-school and private school enrollment, will parents comply or pull the ripcord?