California teenagers allowed to receive COVID-19 shot without parental agreement

San Francisco, California – According to a bill announced this week by state Sen. Scott Wiener, children aged 12 and up in California would be allowed to get the COVID-19 shot, which is approved by the Food and Drug Administration and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, without parental consent.

Young people in California currently have the right to get some medical treatment without a parent’s agreement, including the HPV and hepatitis B vaccinations, as well as reproductive and mental health care. According to Wiener, the COVID vaccine should be no different.

“COVID-19 is a deadly virus for the unvaccinated, and it’s unconscionable for teens to be blocked from the vaccine because a parent either refuses or cannot take their child to a vaccination site,” Wiener said in a press release.

Under the current state law, young people are allowed to receive vaccines against sexually transmissible diseases, and with the new bill, they’ll be able not only to get the COVID-19 shot without parental agreement but also to receive the measles vaccine.

Young people in other states, such as Alabama, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington, D.C., are already allowed to get vaccinated without their parents’ permission.

“Our San Francisco teens have some of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the state and nation with more than 90 percent fully vaccinated, and they are now getting boosted. This age group has been a critical part of our response to ending the pandemic,” San Francisco Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax said.