California Parents Protest Student Vaccine Mandate by the Thousands

Mandating Covid vaccinations on adults has been a touchy subject, but it won’t compare to the uproar about to happen as states decide to mandate Covid vaccines for children in school. California, first out of the gate, is a test case for the country to see what happens when the state tries to usurp parental authority and require vaccination for an illness that is milder to children than common influenza. So far, the results in California have been thousands of parents speaking out with plans to keep their kids home from school as an informal protest of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate.

So far, without full FDA approval for the shot in children aged 5 to 15, the state isn’t forcing anything. However, it’s only a matter of time at this point and parents are getting ahead of the issue by registering their disgust now:

After Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed the nation’s first COVID-19 vaccination mandate for schoolchildren, parents unhappy with the move converged at the Capitol on Monday to protest.

California parents against the mandate were also expected to keep their kids home from school as part of the protest.

The mandate requires that all elementary through high school students get the shots once the vaccine gains final approval from the U.S. government for different age groups. So far, that approval only has come for those 16 and up. Newsom has said the mandate is expected to apply to grades 7 through 12 on July 1, 2022.

As with many parents against California’s move, the issue is not with vaccinations in general, but this vaccination in particular and a lack of respect for parents to decide what is best for the health of their children:

“I’m not against anyone getting vaccinated,” student Maddox Smith said. “I’m against being forced to get vaccinated. I think it’s about power more than anything, not public health.”

Asked what would happen if her kids weren’t allowed in school for defying the mandate, parent Mariah Jones said, “Then we would have to homeschool them. How are we supposed to work and provide for our children? So it’s really not a choice.”

The result of the public school system meltdown since March of 2020 has been more parental involvement in education including parents pulling children from failing public schools and choosing private school or homeschooling as an alternative. Compared to years ago, when homeschooling was more difficult, today’s online coursework and curriculum coupled with a wider homeschool community is offering an attractive option for parents fed up with public school mandates and failures.

At the same time as California announces student mandates, the vaccine mandate for teachers and staff is also going into effect with some public school employees leaving their jobs over the issue:

Those prepared to sacrifice their job include Christopher Adams, an assistant transportation supervisor for school buses, who declined to be vaccinated. He said Friday was his last day at work after nearly three decades with the district. He joined the protest outside Birmingham High and hopes LAUSD will change course.

The 49-year-old said that during the pandemic, he and his team were responsible for transporting coronavirus tests for the district.

He said he does not know what’s next for him.

“We were putting our lives at risk, and for L.A. Unified to basically turn their backs on us to say, ‘We don’t care,’ is again a slap in the face,” Adams said.

No appreciation, no consideration, nothing for employees who have spent decades giving themselves to the public education system only to be tossed out for not agreeing to mandatory Covid vaccination. For medical reasons alone it will be impossible to achieve a 100% vaccination rate, it’s simply not plausible. Why fire people from their livelihoods for not submitting to a mandate for their own personal medical or moral reasons?

Part of the nuanced discussion lost in California is that even many people who are themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 do not believe the state should be in the business of imposing the Covid vaccination on others:

Outside the Bonita Unified School District building in San Dimas, protesters marched along the sidewalk outside, carrying signs that read “My Body, My Choice,” “I call the shot, not you!” and more.

Among them was Carol Wilkerson Runge, a former teacher with the district.

“I have personally been vaccinated. Half of my family has, half has not. But again, freedom of choice,” she said.

“My body, my choice” only applies to abortion, apparently, and nothing else. Personal autonomy is something sacred, and personal health matters have typically been respected by the state due to the overwhelming potential for abuse and misuse of government power to crush personal liberty in the name of whatever cause the party in power is pushing.

Many of these mandates, including the California one, contain accommodation for medical or religious reasons. The issue, however, is that often those reasons aren’t respected by the state or institutions tasked with accepting the accommodation. Individuals are counseled and cajoled and forced to jump through several hoops to “prove” their objection lies beyond a simple desire not to be vaccinated. Objecting to something for medical or moral grounds is not supposed to require “proof” before an objection is honored, the objection is supposed to be honored because the state recognizes the individual’s right to make their own decisions.

As the idea to mandate Covid vaccination on school students, likely starting in the 2022 school year, catches on around the country, look for more and more protests and unhappy parents seeking an alternative to the public education system in the coming months. If nothing else crushes the government’s monopoly on public schools, perhaps this issue will be a breaking point for more and more parents.