California School Walkout

California parents have planned a school walkout due to the new vaccine mandate. Thousands of parents across the state kept their kids at home on Monday, October 18, 2021, to protest Gavin Newsom’s student vaccine mandate. 

Currently, the mandate affects students in grades 7-12, as children ages 12 and up are eligible to receive the vaccine. While some argue for safety, others ask for their freedoms to be protected and autonomy over their children. 

2,500 people in Sacramento gathered around the Capitol building that day advocating for “Our Children, Our Choice.” 

Others in San Francisco are calling for school staff to resign from their already understaffed district. At the same time, over 200 unvaccinated San Francisco fire and sheriff members are on paid leave. 

A vaccine mandate for city workers in Los Angeles is being put in effect this Wednesday. However, it is difficult to predict what this will look like for the city going forward. 

Word spread about the walkout from Northern to Southern California, mostly through social media. No data has been collected about the size of the walkout in general.