NYC private schools now mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all students

 Some of the city’s most exclusive private schools are leading the charge in mandating COVID-19 vaccines for all students, The Post has learned.

Elite bastions including Spence, Chapin, and Horace Mann have all sent out letters in recent weeks informing parents of the requirement and issuing deadlines for students to get the jab.

“The expectation is now for all Spence students ages 5-11 to have received their first dose of COVID vaccine before January 7, 2022, and to be fully vaccinated by February 11, 2022,” Spence’s Principal Bodie Brizentine wrote to parents last month.

The school said it would field medical and religious exemption requests that were formally sought before this upcoming Monday.

“No consideration of exemptions will be accepted after this date,” Brizentine cautioned.

Horace Mann Head of School Thomas Kelly issued a similar letter mandating the vaccine for all students.

Horace Mann Head of School Thomas Kelly told parents that they shouldn’t be surprised by the school’s new vaccine mandate.

James Messerschmidt

“No one with children ages five through eleven should be surprised by the school’s decision to mandate the new Pfizer vaccine,” Kelly wrote in a November 5 email to parents.

The Chapin School has also elected to require students to get the jab in order to maintain enrollment with a deadline of January 14.

Most city private schools are expected to follow suit if they have not already established the mandate.

“There is a lot of support for this and some dissenters as well,” a Chapin parent said. “There are definitely parents here who are hesitant. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.”

The Chapin School will require all students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by January 14.

J.C. Rice

Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to require doses for students this academic year, arguing that his focus was on getting Department of Education employees vaccinated.

Mayor-elect Eric Adams said in October that he would back mandatory student vaccinations shortly before they received FDA approvals.

“We already have a system in place that states before you start school, you receive your vaccination. It is to protect the child and the student population,” Adams told WCBS Newsradio 880.

City Catholic schools have encouraged parents to get their kids vaccinated against the coronavirus but have stopped short of requiring them.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom was the first official to require the vaccine for public school students, with the mandate expected to take effect later this year.

https://nypost.com/2021/12/01/some-nyc-private-schools-now-mandating-covid-vaccines-for-students/