An appeals court ruled Tuesday against San Diego Unified’s COVID-19 student vaccine mandate, which has been on pause for the past half year. The Fourth District Court of Appeal agreed with a lower court’s ruling from last December that school districts cannot impose their own vaccine requirements on students and that only the state can require a vaccine for school attendance.
“This is a great win for children and the rule of law and ensures consistency statewide,” said Lee Andelin, attorney for Let Them Choose, an offshoot of Let Them Breathe that sued San Diego Unified over its student COVID-19 vaccine mandate last year. San Diego Unified is examining the appeals court ruling and “will consider its next steps,” district spokesperson Mike Murad said in an email.
The appeals court rejected San Diego Unified’s several defenses of its student vaccine mandate, including that the mandate is in line with the district’s responsibility to keep students safe and healthy, that school districts can create programs to “meet local needs” and that the district’s vaccine mandate is not actually a mandate because it allows students to do at-home independent study if they don’t want to get vaccinated.