The San Diego Unified School District voted unanimously late last month to mandate COVID shots for all staff and every student over the age of 16. Anyone who fails to comply by December 20th will have to do independent study and will not be eligible for sports or other after-school activities.
Sharon McKeeman, founder of the parent group Let Them Choose, an initiative launched Let Them Breathe, notes there are medical exemptions, but no exemptions for religious or personal beliefs are included.
"I don't know how in the world they feel they have any legal grounds to stand on with that, and this is one of the aspects that we will be taking legal action on," McKeeman tells American Family News.
Before the vote, the board took public comments virtually, and McKeeman says 1,600 people phoned in to voice opposition to the mandate. Anti-vaccine protesters also staged a demonstration outside of the district office.
"I believe it was less than 100 parents call in in support of the mandate," she adds. "But what they did was they shortened the time down to one hour, so a tiny fraction of the parents got to speak. Parents calling in to oppose this mandate far outweighed those that were in support."
More recently, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) issued a vaccine mandate for students statewide. Let Them Choose, which has also opposed mask mandates in schools, was hoping to file a lawsuit this week challenging the local mandate, and McKeeman says their legal team will be addressing the statewide mandate as well.
