PD Editorial: Don’t give up on vaccine mandate for students

California has retreated from proposals to require K-12 students receive COVID-19 vaccination. That decision makes sense for now, even if it is disappointing.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not given full formal approval to COVID vaccines for use in younger children. The vaccines produced by Pfizer and Moderna have full approval for people 16 and older, but there’s only emergency authorization for kids ages 5 to 15. Mandating an injection that is still under emergency authorization only is a tough political lift.

If the distinction between emergency and full authorization sounds familiar, it’s because America went through this debate with adults. Many vaccine-resistant adults used the lack of full approval as an excuse not to receive their shots.

None of which means parents can’t get their kids vaccinated anyway. COVID vaccines have proved safe and effective, reducing infections and preventing severe cases when someone does catch COVID. Emergency authorization for adults became full authorization after the companies jumped through the regulatory hoops. There’s no reason to think the same won’t happen for kids.

Until COVID has full approval for kids, parents should decide whether to vaccinate. If only more made that decision.

Local counties have mixed success fully vaccinating kids aged 5 to 11. Marin County has the best rate in the state with 76%, but it’s a steep decline from there. Sonoma County is at 47%, Mendocino County at 24% and Lake County at 12%. That’s a lot of vulnerable kids who can bring the virus home from school or spread it to friends.

California and the world are moving into an endemic phase in which the virus continues to circulate and new variants emerge.

The best protection is vaccination. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democrats in the Legislature had proposed mandating vaccination for students. Then last week the Department of Public Health announced it would postpone the requirement until at least next year, citing the lack of full approval. At the same time, the sponsor of a bill that would have closed a “personal belief” loophole for student COVID vaccines pulled it.

That this is an election year likely was in the back of Democrats’ minds, too. Any vaccine mandate would anger some Californians.

It didn’t have to go this way entirely. The Department of Public Health could adopt a policy pegging a requirement to, say, six months after full approval, and the Legislature could close a loophole that will be a headache whenever a mandate takes effect.

California has had a fraught relationship with vaccines in the 21st century. Just a few years ago, too many parents abused personal belief and medical exemptions to skip vaccinating their kids, resulting in outbreaks of measles and other serious illnesses until the Legislature tightened the law.

Vaccination protects not only the vaccinated, but also the community. Some people have medical conditions that prevent them from receiving a vaccination. Others are unlucky and fall into the small percentage for whom a vaccine doesn’t take. If everyone around them is vaccinated, herd immunity curbs a virus’ opportunity to spread.

Ideally, the state would treat COVID vaccination for students the same as it does vaccines for measles, mumps and other diseases: Get vaccinated or stay home.

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