Los Angeles – Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Austin Beutner said on Monday that once the vaccines for the coronavirus become available to children, students will need to be immunized before they can return to school, like they are required to be vaccinated for the measles and mumps.
Beutner did not say, however, that LAUSD schools would remain closed until then, reports the Los Angeles Times. He wants the state to set standards for reopening all K-12 campuses, justify the instructions and then require schools to open when the standards are met.
Children who don’t get vaccinated for the coronavirus can continue with distance learning.
When COVID-19 doses become available for children is still up in the air. The two vaccines that are currently available for adults have not been tested on younger children, reports the LA Times. Pfizer’s shot only was tested on a small number of teens.
Additionally, because children and young adults are less likely to develop serious complications when they are infected with COVID-19, they will be the last ones in line to be vaccinated.
In Los Angeles County, it’s estimated that vaccination of teachers will start in early February “and that everyone in this phase should have been offered at least one dose of vaccine by late March,” according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
