Washington state health officials vote not to require COVID vaccination in schools
The Washington State Board of Health voted unanimously not to add COVID-19 vaccines to the state’s list of required immunizations for schools and child care facilities on Wednesday during the board’s virtual meeting.
The move, which adopted a recommendation by a technical advisory group that was convened to study the issue, look at data and listen to experts, was announced in a news release Wednesday, April 13.
In a Feb. 24 meeting, the technical advisory group voted 7-6 against recommending to the Board of Health to require COVID-19 vaccines for students, with four undecided votes, according to Wednesday’s release.
“The Department of Health very much supports the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations,” Washington State Department of Health Secretary Dr. Umair Shah said during Wednesday’s meeting. “Particularly I wanted to make mention that it’s been shown to prevent against severe disease — hospitalizations and death. We believe it is safe and effective in all eligible populations.
“I also want to affirm the overall recommendation of the technical advisory group, but that does not take away from the fact that our department continues to remain committed in its work, along with fellow board members and other entities across the state, to encourage the public to get vaccinated against COVID-19.”
Technical advisory group members voting against the recommendation expressed concerns about a lack of good data and possible lost time from school by requiring vaccines, according to the release, while those in support of it saw it as an opportunity to help eradicate the virus.
“This is a critical issue, because though the vast majority of children infected with COVID-19 have mild illness and recover, severe illness does occur, even death, particularly in children with chronic conditions,” Department of Health Chief Science Officer Dr. Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett said during Wednesday’s meeting, citing a Kaiser Family Foundation study that found COVID to be the fourth-leading cause of death in children aged 5 and over during January of this year.
Despite the advisory group’s vote not to recommend requiring immunization for schools and daycare, Kwan-Gett said the group, which he co-chaired, strongly endorsed the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccine in children and the importance of finding ways to increase voluntary vaccination.
Kwan-Gett said one of the areas of concern presented to the technical advisory group during its research was the added burden it would put on school nurses around the state to facilitate requiring COVID immunization. Cost-effectiveness of requiring vaccination was another criterion that was not met in the technical advisory group’s eyes, Kwan-Gett said.
“I want to emphasize to the board that these deliberations and recommendations reflect what we know about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines in children at this time,” Kwan-Gett said. The technical advisory group “recognized that there are many unknowns in the data, and it’s very possible we may encounter new information in the future that will make it important for the board to reassess today’s TAG recommendations.”
Kwan-Gett also added that changes to COVID-19, such as a new variant that is more dangerous to children, or the science of vaccines could be reasons for the board to reexamine Wednesday’s decision.
“I’m hoping that people will hear as they’ve been listening that this also is very important to all of us, and we want to get it right, and we want to do everything we can to get it right,” Shah said before making a motion the board accept the technical advisory group’s recommendation not to include COVID vaccination among the state’s list of required immunizations.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 4:46 PM with the headline "Washington state health officials vote not to require COVID vaccination in schools."
CORRECTION: The time frame of the Kaiser Family Foundation study of COVID-19 deaths in children age 5 and over was corrected on April 14, 2022.
