Sac City Unified extends vaccine deadline as thousands of students go without COVID shots

The Sacramento City Unified School District is extending its deadline for students to get vaccinated against COVID-19, reflecting a low vaccination rate among students attending in-person classes.

The district’s original deadline was scheduled to fall on Jan. 31. It applies to students age 12 and up. Students would be steered to an independent study program if they remain unvaccinated.

So far, only about half of eligible students have reported they are at least partially vaccinated, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard.

The extension as of now does not apply to staff members, about 82% of whom report they have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, though that could change, according to district spokesman Al Goldberg.

The new deadline for students will be Feb. 28, which district officials hope will give them time to continue vaccine outreach among students and families.

If the original deadline had remained in place, more than 8,600 students, or about 44% of students ages 12 and up, would be forced out of classrooms.

The low vaccination rate among older students and vaccine hold-outs among staff members is an ongoing complication for the district, which has been rocked by weeks of surging COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron variant.

With hundreds of teachers calling in sick, the district earlier this month put out job postings to hire more substitute teachers, dropping certain restrictions and also allowing retired teachers to return.

“This deadline extension will give our district more time to continue to navigate the daily demands of the omicron surge while continuing to conduct outreach to families so that vaccination status and/or consent to testing is submitted for all students,” Goldberg said in a statement.

“This is why the district has recommended taking an additional month to conduct outreach to families that have not yet met the requirement. Students that have not met the district’s requirement will not be moved into independent study before March.”

Over the next month, the district plans to send targeted emails and messages in multiple languages to families that have not yet met the requirement for their students, “with the goal of achieving participation by all families,” Goldberg stated.

While the vaccine requirement does not apply to students ages 5 to 11, they must sign up for regular testing. District officials say thousands of students in that age group have not signed up for testing.

Overall, the district has nearly 24,000 students who are either unvaccinated, or have yet to inform the district of their status.

The district defines full vaccination as getting both doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine, or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Students and staff also need to have completed the two-week period that follows to ensure maximum immunity.

Students and staff seeking an exemption from the vaccine mandate — for a medical reason, for example — must file an exemption form and submit it to the district. People exempt from the vaccine must continue to undergo regular testing.

The district hosts free vaccination clinics regularly at different school sites and at the district’s office the Serna Center. For a list of dates and times, visit the district’s website.