The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has conceded to public and parental opposition and announced Tuesday that it will not demand that students be vaccinated this fall, nor that they wear masks or that they provide coronavirus tests.
The concession came in the midst of a contentious political season, as voters had began making their voices heard across the state — in school board recall elections, in campaigns to recall left-wing prosecutors, and in political primaries as well.
In an announcement, LAUSD said that “[I]ndoor masking is strongly recommended at all Los Angeles Unified schools and workplaces,” but stopped short of requiring it. It added: “Testing will only be required for those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or those who have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive.” And on vaccination, LAUSD said: “Our employees are already vaccinated. We encourage all eligible students to be vaccinated as well, and all members of the school community to receive any boosters for which they are eligible.”
LAUSD had once hoped to impose a vaccine mandate on students returning to school, but kept voting to put off the demand.
Enthusiasm for vaccine mandates has also waned as many people who are vaccinated and boosted have contracted COVID-19 anyway, albeit with more manageable symptoms and lower hospitalization and death rates.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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