BOSTON (AP) — The Amherst Board of Health has approved a request by the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District to enforce a COVID-19 vaccination mandate for students.
The mandate adds the coronavirus vaccine to the list of students’ required immunizations, according to superintendent Michael Morris.
The school committee is scheduled to decide when the students must get the shot.
“The Board of Health adds vaccination against COVID-19, using vaccines that have received full FDA approval, to the list of vaccinations that are required (except for medical or religious exceptions) for students to attend public schools in Amherst,” Morris said in a tweet Friday.
A vaccine mandate for staff personnel is also under consideration, according to The Boston Globe.
The Amherst Board of Health only applied the mandate to vaccines fully approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Pfizer’s vaccine, jointly developed with Germany’s BioNTech, has received full FDA approval for those ages 16 and older.
Around 1400 students attend grades seven through 12 in the district, Morris said.
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