A California Supreme Court decision last month reaffirmed that individual school districts lack the authority to require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19. A few weeks before that, officials in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration confirmed that they had abandoned plans to require COVID-19 vaccination of schoolchildren, and legislation to similar effect was dropped last year. That means that, at least for the foreseeable future, COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be added to the list of 10 inoculations California requires to attend school.
Some may fear this puts children and communities at unnecessary risk. But both our current scientific understanding of the COVID-19 vaccines and the drawbacks of mandating them suggest state officials and courts made the right call.
Unlike the other vaccines required for school enrollment in California, the COVID-19 vaccines are unreliable at preventing infection or transmission, providing at best modest protection against infection for only a couple of months.
