Newsom’s Vaccine Mandate is a Step in the Right Direction

Immunization requirements have kept students safe for decades

I bet you’re sick of hearing the word “unprecedented,” as it seems to be the only word health professionals, administrators and politicians know nowadays.

Well, here it comes again. On Oct. 1, California Governor Gavin Newsom made the unprecedented choice to require a COVID-19 vaccination for all students attending public schools.

This policy means all middle and high schoolers will now be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to attend public schools starting in the 2022 academic year.

California is the first state to implement a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for public schools. However, private schools and universities, like Santa Clara, have the jurisdiction to apply their own rules for vaccines.

Santa Clara made the right choice when mandating a vaccine, and it is about time that the state enforce a similar policy. It is unacceptable that 70,000 in California have died from the virus. We can only hope this mandate is not too little, too late; we knew that vaccines were safe and effective months ago.

This is certainly a controversial choice for Newsom to make, but it is one of the most effective tools for reducing transmission rates and protecting California residents from the dangerous effects of the virus. However, controversy and politics shouldn’t matter when we are dealing with a pandemic that has taken millions of lives. This is genuinely a life or death situation, so mandating a vaccine should be the bare minimum that politicians are doing to protect their constituents.

Important to note is that while a vaccine requirement for COVID-19 may be unprecedented, immunization requirements for other diseases have been commonplace for over a century. Diphtheria, pertussis and DTaP vaccinations are among the most common required for childcare and schools.

The Rubella vaccine is mandated, and its last outbreak was in 2004. Now less than 10 people report having the virus every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). We can only hope that a COVID-19 vaccine mandate will lead to similar results. Additionally, promising reports from the CDC state that receiving a COVID-19 vaccine puts people at “low risk of acquiring or transmitting” the virus.

So, before anti-vaxxers sprint to Twitter to disparage the vaccine, the new mandate and Newsom, just remember that unvaccinated people made up 86% of hospitalizations this past summer. California is leading in vaccination rates and has the lowest transmission in the United States, and is the most populous state in the nation. The numbers speak for themselves.

The health of California as a whole shouldn’t be put into jeopardy due to the decisions of a growing minority of vaccine deniers whose main focus is spreading conspiracy theories.

Newsom had every legal and moral right to put this mandate in effect. Those opposed to it should realize that this is not an attempt to hinder the rights of citizens, but instead an effort to protect them from the virus that has taken 700,000 lives in the United States and over four and half million lives worldwide.

Still, for those parents who are anti-vaxxers or die-hard believers that taking a vaccine will cause your child to grow an extra limb, you are wrong. This mandate is not going to put your child’s life in danger — it is actually what is going to save their life.

Newsom’s policy is not a blanket mandate; it has reasonable exceptions and recognizes the different needs and limitations of others’ health. The only way to be excused from the immunization requirement is for medical reasons or religious and personal beliefs. Now, you can only imagine the absurd excuses that will be sent into schools in the coming weeks.

Of course, people will take advantage of these exceptions, but that would be illogical if their religious beliefs are a mask for their QAnon conspiracy theories. And just a head-ups, if your kid doesn’t get vaccinated and is ranting about the microchips in the vaccine that led to Biden winning the election, don’t be surprised if they are sitting by themselves at the lunch table and are complaining that it is hard to make friends next year.