Communication from GGUSD

Vaccine Requirement

Dear Families,

On Friday, Governor Newsom announced that the COVID-19 vaccine will be added to the list of required vaccines for children to attend school. 

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) plans to phase-in the vaccine requirement, beginning with school district staff and students age 12 and older.  The mandate would take effect the semester after the FDA grants full approval of the vaccine for children 12-15 years of age.  The vaccine currently only has emergency authorization for that age group.  If full approval comes in January, then the mandate could take effect in July 2022.  

The COVID-19 vaccine is not yet available for children ages 11 and younger, so any school vaccination requirement for those students would only take effect following both emergency authorization and subsequent full FDA authorization. There has not yet been a date established for either emergency or full authorization for children ages 11 and younger.

All K-12 school district staff will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine no later than when the requirement takes effect for students age 12-17.

The Governor also stated that medical, personal and religious exemptions will be allowed, though we don’t yet have details on the approval process for exemptions.

We understand that families will have differing feelings about this new state mandate.

We are still working to gain additional details about the impact of this health requirement on our large school district and will share information as soon as we receive it.

Click here to review the Governor’s announcement.