New York Times:  “Gov. Gavin Newsom of California announced on Friday that the state plans to add the coronavirus vaccine to other vaccinations required to attend school, such as measles and mumps, starting as early as next fall.  The vaccine mandate, for public and private schools, will be phased-in by grade span — seventh through 12th grades, and then kindergarten through sixth — after the Food and Drug Administration grants full approval to the corresponding age group. Mr. Newsom said that he anticipates the requirement would apply to grades seven and up starting in July 2022.

“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is currently only fully approved for people 16 and older; the vaccine remains available for children ages 12 to 15 under emergency use authorization. Mr. Newsom said that more than 63 percent of Californians aged 12 to 17 have received at least one dose of vaccine.  Widespread inoculation will be critical to keeping classrooms open, he noted.

“’We want to end this pandemic. We are all exhausted by it,’ the governor, who has four small children, said.  Mr. Newsom’s announcement would make California the first state to mandate the Covid vaccine for in-person school attendance.  Independent study will be offered for unvaccinated students, he said, and rules for students with medical and other exemptions will be determined through a public rule-making process. California has nearly 7 million students in public and private schools.

“Several of the state’s largest school districts have already voted to mandate vaccinations in some form for hundreds of thousands of students. Last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest in the nation — became the first major school district in the country to announce a vaccine mandate for children 12 and older who attend school in person, which will be broadly effective by January.”