Roberto Ortega, 16, is awaiting the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine administered by AltaMed Health Services registered nurse Amy Berecz-Ortega in Los Angeles, California, on August 17, 2021.
Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Thursday to require students 12 and older to be vaccinated against coronavirus to attend face-to-face classes in the nation’s second-largest school district.
The move makes Los Angeles by far the largest of a very small number of districts that need vaccines. Nearby, Culver City imposed a similar policy last month for its 7,000 students.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, which has more than 600,000 mostly Latino students, already tests all students and employees every week, requires indoor and outdoor masking, and has ordered vaccination of employees. Under the vaccination plan, students 12 years of age or older who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities must complete the two-shot sequence by the end of October. Others have until December 19th.
“It’s easy to wait for someone to tell us what to do. LA Unified is a leader because we have to do it. Our communities can’t wait,” board member Monica Garcia said before the overwhelming vote in favor of movement.
“This action is not about violating anyone’s rights. This action is about doing our job to be able to offer public schools that children can come to school and be safe,” he said.
Fifth graders are waiting in line to take a quick weekly COVID-19 test on the first day of school in the Los Angeles Unified School District at Montara Avenue Elementary School on Monday, August in South Gate, CA.
Allen J. Paneroles | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
Los Angeles Unified was one of the last larger districts in the nation to reopen classroom instruction last spring. The teachers’ union opposed the measure for months, alleging health problems.
The student population of the district is nearly three-quarters of Latinos and many are poor. Among adults, poor Latinos are vaccinated at a rate below the state average.
Under the plan, all students 12 years of age or older in the district will be fully vaccinated when they return to class after the winter break on January 11th. October 3 and a second dose on October 31, while other students must get the first dose before November 21 and a second dose no later than December 19.
Some parents are eager to vaccinate all eligible students. Lucy Rimalower, who has a kindergarten in the district, said she is relieved: officials are taking steps to try to protect her child until she is old enough to receive the shot, and that also helps protect her children. parents, who are between 60 and 70 years old and help her with the care of their children.
“It’s like following the precedent of all the other vaccines over time that have helped us have a safer school environment, which allows us to feel how safe it is to send our children to school without chickenpox, polio , mumps, measles, rubella, you say, ”she said.
Other parents oppose the measure, including Bryna Makowka, who has a teenage son in the district and believes it should be up to the parents, not the council, to decide their children.
“If you want to do it freely, go ahead. I also have a right not to protect my child and protect him,” she said.
United Teachers Los Angeles supports the plan and had urged the board to order the vaccination of students once teachers had to receive the shots.