Los Angeles schools move to mandate COVID vaccines for eligible students

COVID-19 vaccination mandates for students above the age of 12 in parts of Los Angeles may be instated after Thursday as the city’s school board is expected to vote on the matter.

The vaccine mandate will require students to be fully vaccinated against coronavirus before Christmas in order to continue attending classes, according to US media reports.

The Los Angeles Unified School District proposal would require students associated with in-person extracurricular activities to get fully vaccinated by the end of October, according to reports from NBC News.

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Students would also be directed to produce proof of vaccination before being permitted on campus, according to the proposal. 

The Los Angeles Unified School District, if the proposal gets approved on Thursday, would become the first major educational institution to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for students who are eligible to get the shot. Those above the age of 12 falls under this category.

The Los Angeles Unified School District includes nearly 600,000 students and is also the second-largest school district in the United States.

The new mandate would also compel students and staff to get tested for COVID-19 on a regular basis, regardless of their vaccination status. 

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Nick Melvoin, a member of the school board said, “Our goal is to keep kids and teachers safe as possible and in the classroom”, according to reports from Los Angeles Times. 

He added, “A medical and scientific consensus has emerged that the best way to protect everyone in our schools and communities is for all those who are eligible to get vaccinated. This policy is the best way to make that happen”, NBC reported.

School staffers are required to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 15 this year as more than 5,000 school students have already tested positive for the deadly virus since the start of the school year in Los Angeles County, NBC reported.