Part of the Arizona state Senate’s amendments to the recently passed budget include preventing K-12 school boards from requiring COVID-19 vaccinations and masks.
Arizona Public Health Association Director Will Humble says the decision is dangerous for elementary school-aged children, who will not be eligible for a vaccine until January.
“The only real protection that those kids have are mitigation measures on the school grounds, in the classrooms and so forth,” said Humble.
Humble cited COVID-19’s more transmissible delta variant as a point of concern for unvaccinated children.
The Senate amendment’s ban also stretches to state universities, which begin their fall sessions in August.
