Curt Flewelling, FISM News
The education news site EdSource is reporting that the state of California will no longer be pursuing legislation that would require children attending public school to be COVID-19 immunized.
Governor Newsom and the California Department of Public Health(CDPH), once doggedly insistent that K-12 students be compelled to get the vaccine, are now eerily quiet in the wake of the news.
When asked by EdSource if the state was dropping plans for the mandate, CDPH did not directly answer the question. Similarly, the governor’s office has not responded to repeated questions about the apparent about face on the issue.
Lucerne Valley United Superintendent Peter Livingston expressed frustration with the silence. He told EdSource, “Let’s wipe this whole COVID vaccination thing off the table. ‘Just say it. If it’s over, just say it.’”
Many parents who have wondered if they would be compelled to vaccinate their kids, agreed with the Superintendent.
“This is long overdue… A lot of families have been stressed from this decision and worried about it for quite some time,” Jonathan Zacherson, founder of the group Reopen California Schools, told CBS News. “I wish CDPH would make a bigger statement publicly or Newsom would make a public statement … to let families know and school districts know that this is no longer going to be an issue for them.”
Unlike many other states or municipalities who have publicly declared an easing or end to such policies, California officials appear to be hesitant to acknowledge the reality that the pandemic is over.
Although California is a deeply blue state, legislative gridlock and successful lawsuits blocking such governmental decrees have left plans for vaccine mandates on life support.
The White House’s recent announcement that the COVID-19 national public health emergency will end on May 11, may have been the final nail in the vaccine mandate coffin.
In a little over a year, Governor Newsoms 2021 edict to make California the first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for school kids has essentially been rendered unenforceable.