Culver City Unified School District in Los Angeles County will require students 12 and older to receive the COVID-19 vaccine by Nov. 19.
“We are mandating vaccines for all eligible staff and students,” the school district wrote in an Aug. 17 tweet.
On May 10, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved, under emergency use authorization, adolescents as young as 12 years old to receive the vaccine.
“Having a vaccine authorized for a younger population is a critical step in continuing to lessen the immense public health burden caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research said in May 10 statement.
The school district posted the COVID-19 vaccine mandate announcement on Facebook where it was met with both praise and criticism.
“Thank you for all the info and appreciate the district’s push to protect our kids,” a parent wrote. “[But] I don’t understand the mandate for students and disagree with it. Kids are still developing and we don’t know the long term affects of COVID vaccines on developing individuals.”
“This is absolutely ridiculous. Do not sacrifice your children to these people and stand up to them!” said another parent.
Another parent said: “Very pleased to know about the vaccine mandate! Thank you for the efforts in keeping our kids safe.”
Regardless of staff or students’ vaccination status, weekly testing will also be mandated and offered at each school site.
As more students are vaccinated, the school district plans to continue enforcing mask mandates for students in lower grade levels who are not eligible to receive the vaccine.
The announcement from Culver City Unified School district comes after the state announced a public health order requiring all school staff to be fully vaccinated or be tested once a week.
Culver City Unified School district didn’t return a request by The Epoch Times for comment by press deadline.
