California becomes first to require teachers get vaccine or tested

Aug 11, 2021

Ben Burke Producer

By Ben Burke (Producer)

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday California will require all school staff to either get the vaccine or be tested at least once per week. The public health order is effective Thursday. Schools must be in full compliance by Oct. 15.

The video above shows Gov. Newsom announcing the order.

“To give parents confidence that their children are safe as schools return to full, in-person learning, we are urging all school staff to get vaccinated. Vaccinations are how we will end this pandemic,” Gov. Newsom said. “As a father, I look forward to the start of the school year and seeing all California kids back in the classroom.”

The order makes California the first state in the country to set a so-called “get vaccine or get tested” requirement for its school staff. School districts in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, as well as the Long Beach Unified School District, have issued similar requirements in recent days.

This is one of several measures the state has taken recently to slow the spread of COVID-19. Others include:

Requiring all state workers to either show proof of full vaccination or be tested at least once per week.
Requiring workers in health care settings to be fully vaccinated or receive their second dose by Sept. 30.
Becoming the first state to implement universal masking in school settings.
Recommending mask use for indoor public settings regardless of vaccination status.

California, like many other parts of the country, is seeing a rise in cases, fueled by the spread of the Delta variant. It’s not just the state putting safety measures in place. Similar “get vaccine or get tested” requirements have been set for federal workers and New York City employees. The Pentagon and the Department of Veterans Affairs have required vaccinations.

In addition, states, cities, businesses and institutions across the country have rushed to reinstate mask mandates after the CDC recommended people in parts of the country where the Delta variant is spreading wear a mask indoors. This includes Los Angeles County and is causing tension in Florida where Gov. Ron DeSantis banned school districts from setting mask mandates.

Tags: Pandemic

Gov. Gavin Newsom, (D) California: “The state of California, trying to lead by example, also that we needed to do more and we needed to better by becoming the first state in the country to require vaccine mandate, or at least verification and/or a testing requirement. We’re now following up today to align our school strategy to the state strategy and become the first state in the country to require that all of our staff, not just teachers, credentialed staff, para-educators, custodial staff, the bus drivers, folks that are critical to supporting the entire school ecosystem also submit a verification of vaccination and/or submit to weekly testing.”

“We think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have, I have four young children, and that is knowing that the schools are doing everything in their power to keep our kids safe, to keep our kids healthy.”

“While we’re proud of the fact that California has among the highest vaccination rates in America, now 77.5 percent of all eligible Californians have received at least one dose, it’s not good enough. We have more work to do.”