COVID-19 Vaccine Not On Florida’s Mandatory Vaccination List, Yet. Will, Can Local School Districts Act First?
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — It looks increasingly likely that students will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, at some point, before they are permitted to attend school in Palm Beach County. Whether that mandate is issued before the start of the 2021-2022 school year, or a year in the future, remains to be seen.
The Palm Beach County School Board is set to take up a consent item on January 20th, 2021.
There’s the complete language on a document reviewed by BocaNewsNow.com:
“I recommend the Board adopt the proposed revised Policy 5.06, entitled “Health Examinations and Immunizations.”
“The proposed revision updates the policy in accordance with recent legislation which requires school districts and private schools to have a policy for each student to have a certification of immunization on file with the State immunization registry (Florida Shots).”
“Allows parents to refuse to have their child included in the State immunization registry and adds the provision for any student whose parents have excluded their child from the state immunization registry to present or have the certification of immunization on file prior to admittance or attendance in a Florida public or private school as required by state law.”
The refusal language only permits parents and guardians to “opt out” of providing information for a state database. There is no opting out of mandatory vaccines. You can see Florida’s official “mandatory vaccine” list, here.
As of December 15th, 2020, the COVID-19 vaccine is not on the state list. Whether local school districts have the authority to require a specific vaccine remains to be seen, as does whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis attempts to block health officials — or school districts — from requiring children to be vaccinated against COVID-19
