All teachers in California will need to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo weekly screenings, the governor of this state, where infections are on the rise, announced on Wednesday.
“To give parents confidence that their children are safe when schools resume face-to-face lessons, we urge all school staff to get immunized,”
said Gavin Newsom.
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With more than 10,000 new cases a day, ten times more than two months ago, the resurgence of the virus in this most populous state in the United States, fueled by the highly contagious variant Delta, threatens the reopening of schools. .
“It is through vaccination that we will put an end to this pandemic. As a father, I can't wait for the school year to begin and for the children of California to be back in classrooms, ”
said the Democratic governor. The measure announced Wednesday, which applies to both public and private schools, was welcomed by parent groups.
“We want to do everything we can to protect our most vulnerable children and ensure that all children can return to school in the safest way possible,”
said Carol Green, president of the parents' association. teachers (PTA) from California.
“We maintain that educators are essential workers
,” she added. Nearly two-thirds of California residents over the age of 12 are fully immunized, according to local health officials.
Children under the age of 10 have not yet been cleared to receive anti-Covid vaccines by the US Medicines Agency (FDA). The Pfizer / BioNTech alliance announced in May that it hoped to file an emergency authorization request for their vaccine in September for children aged 2 to 11 in the United States.