District board members continue to adjust their COVID-19 protocols and mandates for students. 

The PVPUSD vaccine clinics are eligible for students aged 5 to 11, and are now available with four dates and a thousand available appointments. The board has also lifted the requirement to wear masks outdoors. 

Emily Wilcox, a parent of a PVPUSD student, expressed her gratitude for lifting this mandate at a recent school board meeting.

“I wish I had a video of how excited my daughter was when I shared the news with her,” Wilcox said. “Since then I’ve actually had the chance to see her teacher’s face for the first time across campus and these things are small but they’re meaningful.” 

Wilcox also expresses her stance on the vaccine becoming mandatory in the near future for PV students. 

“The decision of whether or not to vaccinate should be between the parents, the children and their own doctor,” Wilcox said.

Despite some parents within PVPUSD being against the vaccine soon being mandatory, many are in support of vaccinating their children for the sake of continuing in-person schooling and preventing the spread of COVID-19. 

Wei Wong, parent of two PVPUSD-attending students, expressed her support in the vaccination of students. 

“I want my children to be able to stay at school with zero interruption from [COVID-19] and at some point to be able to not wear a mask the whole day and wash their hands over and over,” Wei said. 

“I have no problem if we add [a] vaccine on the yellow immunization card. Look [in] the past, we won the battle over polio and smallpox because of vaccine mandates. We also brought back measles because we let the anti-vaxxers do whatever they want. I’m glad that Dr. Cherniss and the [board] are going to follow the state mandate. That is the only way to keep everyone safe in my opinion. I [hope] their stances on this issue won’t change over time and pressure. I personally do not want my children to be in the same room with an unvaccinated person.” 

The arguments about whether to vaccinate children or not is rather polarizing; all stances on the matter are being deeply considered by the PVPUSD school board. 

The newest variant, Omicron, raises an urgent concern in the medical field to encourage more people to receive the vaccine. Their stress on the importance of taking necessary precautions against the unknown harms of the newest variant is prominent.