California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) announced the first of its kind Wuhan coronavirus vaccine mandate for students in kindergarten through twelfth grade on Friday.
Students who aren't vaccinated will not be allowed to attend school in-person once the mandate takes effect, which will phase in as FDA approval kicks in for younger age ranges. The FDA has so far only fully approved one COVID vaccine — the Pfizer two-shot mRNA vaccine now marketed as Comirnaty — for those 16 and older.
In a press conference held at a school, Newsom announced "a statewide requirement for in-person instruction for all of our children to add to a well-established list that currently includes ten vaccinations and well-established rules and regulations that have been advanced by the legislature for decades," attempting to justify his new mandate for all students at public and private schools.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) announces the first K-12 vaccine mandate in the nation, requiring students to get vaccinated against COVID in order to attend in-person classes.
— The Recount (@therecount) October 1, 2021
The mandate will go into effect once the FDA gives full approval of the shots for their age groups. pic.twitter.com/qZggkJZu5K
As his vaccine mandate seeks to force students as young as kindergarten to get vaccinated in order to fully participate in their own education, teachers are currently not subject to a vaccine mandate, a stunning double standard that no doubt is thanks to the deference Newsom gives to powerful teacher unions.
Newsom will not as yet require CA teachers and staff to get vaccine even though their students will have to get the jab. pic.twitter.com/A3uFuGKc67
— Jill Tucker (@jilltucker) October 1, 2021
The mandate, like many of the others implemented across the country, is staggeringly illogical.
According to data from the CDC, the rate of hospitalization and death for people increases with age, and young people are at a drastically lower risk for complications, hospitalization, or dying from the virus. The latest statistics from the CDC show that of the 687,172 COVID deaths recorded by the CDC, just 478 patients were 17 or younger.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that "severe illness due to COVID-19 is uncommon among children" and cumulative data from 24 states and New York City showed just "0.1%-2.0% of all their child COVID-19 cases resulted in hospitalization" and "0.00%-0.03% of all child COVID-19 cases resulted in death."
As the Mayo Clinic explains, the Wuhan coronavirus "most commonly affects middle-aged and older adults" and "the risk of developing dangerous symptoms increases with age, with those who are age 85 and older at the highest risk of serious symptoms. In the U.S., about 80% of deaths from the disease have been in people age 65 and older," the Mayo Clinic adds.
The flu is often more deadly to children than the Wuhan coronavirus has proven to be, and those young people who do get COVID transmit the virus at low rates and recover at high rates. A vaccine mandate for them, according to science, is largely unnecessary.
BREAKING: California Gov Gavin Newsom will force kids in every public school to get the COVID vaccine. But studies show the flu is often more deadly than COVID for kids and that they recover at very high rates and transmit COVID at very low rates.
— Cassandra (@CassyWearsHeels) October 1, 2021
Why students as young as four and five years old will soon be required to be vaccinated — assuming Newsom's decision to get out ahead of the "science" pans out and the FDA grants full approval — while the middle-aged and older adults instructing them are not yet subject to a vaccine mandate makes zero sense. If Newsom truly wanted to protect people, he would protect the people at higher risk of serious complications and those who transmit the virus at higher rates first. But he's not, he's going after California's children first.
“If you want to attack someone, attack me.”
— The Recount (@therecount) October 1, 2021
— Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on pushback against his first-in-the-nation K-12 vaccine mandate, as school workers face threats. pic.twitter.com/QWUC5P7JVG
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Newsom said "If you want to attack someone, attack me." And many already are.
Get your kids out of public school. Hell get out of California. https://t.co/6uqRlqGgCw
— Matthew Jaramillo (@MattIJaramillo) October 1, 2021
For the record, kids didn’t vote, they don’t have a choice in the matter.
— Marina Medvin ???? (@MarinaMedvin) October 1, 2021
The kids are sacrificial lambs of liberalism.
This is cruel and anti-scientific.
The political science anti-real-science movement is a modern tragedy. And child cruelty. https://t.co/IYEeLGEn5W
You really do want people to just leave the state, don't you. https://t.co/xvEnytpecz
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) October 1, 2021
Perhaps if California's kindergarteners had formed a union and donated to Newsom's campaign, they would have been spared from a mandate.
Gavin Newsom just announced a vaccine mandate for K-12 students, days after opposing one for prison guards. California kids made the mistake of not giving millions to his campaigns.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) October 1, 2021
Special Interests can buy their way out of vaccine mandates just like lockdowns. Newsom tried to block a mandate for prison guards after getting $1.75 million from their union in the Recall.
— Kevin Kiley (@KevinKileyCA) September 30, 2021
If only students had a union https://t.co/YZuUZa65zt
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) October 1, 2021
Join the conversation as a VIP Member