With the Delta variant continuing to spread around the country, Los Angeles has issued a vaccine mandate for students over the age of 12 who are attending class in person.
The first school district in the country to do so, the district’s Board of Education voted 6 to 0 to pass the measure Thursday.
Because the school district is the second largest in the country, the mandate will eventually apply to more than 460,000 students, the New York Times reports.
The mandate will begin on November 21, meaning students will need to have received at least their first dose. They will need their second dose by December 19 to begin second semester.
Those who turn 12 after those dates will have 30 days after their birthday to get the first dose.
Students participating in extracurricular activities need both shots by the end of October.
New York and Chicago, the country’s two other largest school districts, won’t be following suit just yet.
“We just don’t think that’s the right thing to do,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, adding that it could keep families who are not ready to vaccinate out of in-person learning.
Similarly, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said last month that a student vaccine mandate would be “premature.”
