By Jesse Hernandez
The Los Angeles Community College District is enforcing the COVID-19 booster shot. Students that are not up to date with the booster will not be allowed on campus.
As of Tuesday, LACCD will require proof of full vaccination.
This applies to any of the nine colleges within the district. To be fully vaccinated is now considered having both shots, and a booster along with it.
Is it right to now consider that when many other districts are dropping mandates and other cities are dropping mask and vaccination mandates for their business ?
Across the country, states and cities are dropping mask mandates for gyms, retail shops, restaurants and coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, theaters and family entertainment centers. Also included are offices, warehouses and events venues. K-12 mask mandates just ended as well this week .
Vaccine verification is also no longer required for these places. Los Angeles county says vaccine verification will still be required for indoor mega events with 1,000 or more attendees, like concerts or sports games.
So why is it that LACCD is keeping its new fully-vaccinated enforcement rule? I believe at this time, it would be fair to drop the mandates for two reasons.
Other businesses in LA county are dropping most mandates. Second, reason the semester has already started, so a student who was taking a class on campus or a hybrid class, who was once considered fully-vaccinated with the two shots, is now no longer allowed to attend classes online or in person.
If they wanted to start the mandate in the 2022 fall semester, it would give students more time to get boosted. It doesn’t make sense to do that in the middle of the semester.
Governor, Gavin Newsom said “We are moving past the crisis phase into a phase where we will work to live with this virus.”
COVID-19 is not over. It will be back and maybe the next time it hits us with a surge, it will hit us harder than ever before.
There is a surge again in the United Kingdom, South Korea and Hong Kong, especially here in the U.S. and in our city and county of LA and in the surrounding school districts. If others are dropping mandates and feel like it’s not a problem right now, I believe LACCD should do the same.
If it gets bad again and counties want to get more aggressive with the rules, we’ll see that happen again and again.
With this booster rule going in effect , if a student is filing a medical or religious exemption, it must be accepted by the district.
Approved exceptions will be based on whether a student has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 90 days, regardless of vaccinated status or if not yet eligible to receive the booster shot yet.
People should get fully vaccinated. It is the best tool against COVID-19.
Companies advised people who are not vaccinated are not welcomed.
Now, the rules have changed and changes are happening all across the U.S. When the rules are changing, everyone should be on the same