D.C. Council considers tossing school COVID vax mandate

The D.C. Council is contemplating suspending town’s pupil COVID vaccine mandate as vaccination charges lag.

Why it issues: It has been difficult for faculties to implement the requirement that each one college students, together with public, personal, and parochial, get their first COVID shot. As of Sept. 27, round 46% of D.C. public faculty college students had been nonetheless out of compliance.

What they’re saying: “I used to be shocked that we’re one among three jurisdictions within the nation that has a vaccine mandate for teenagers for COVID,” D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson informed reporters Monday.

• “There’s now dialogue … that perhaps the virus is evolving into one thing extra just like the flu, which is critical, however we do not have a vaccine mandate for the flu,” he added.

Context: Curiosity in photographs, particularly the bivalent booster shot which targets Omicron variants, is lagging significantly.

Zoom in: In D.C., solely 6.5% of residents have gotten the brand new booster — in comparison with round 29.5% of Washingtonians who acquired the earlier booster.

• In Maryland, uptake for the brand new booster as of Oct. 28 is round 11.5% — in comparison with round 44% for the earlier booster.
• In Virginia, 51% of residents have gotten a booster shot, however state-level information doesn’t distinguish between the brand new bivalent booster and the earlier booster.

Zoom out: Nationwide and native well being officers say they’ve exhausted messaging techniques and accessible assets to succeed in reluctant or disinterested individuals about vaccines, per the Washington Put up.

• However Neil Sehgal, College of Maryland affiliate professor of well being coverage and administration, says federal officers have performed a task in a few of this fatigue and disinterest.

“It is arduous to persuade individuals to get boosters when the parallel narrative from the administration is that the pandemic is over,” he says.

The massive image: Past COVID, each flu season and RSV, a respiratory sickness that may be crucial in youngsters, has hit the nation arduous this yr, worrying public well being consultants. Native hospitals, together with Youngsters’s Nationwide, are close to capability.

Be good: Pharmacies, COVID facilities, and different group vaccination websites presently carry each flu and booster photographs. Discover out right here the place to get vaccinated.

Share your ideas: Are you a neighborhood father or mother, trainer, or pupil with ideas on the COVID vaccine mandate? Reply on to this electronic mail to inform us how you are feeling.