Most parents support mask mandates in schools but don’t believe children should be required to get COVID-19 shots, a new poll finds.
The survey, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), that six in 10 parents agree that unvaccinated students and teacher s should wear face coverings in the classroom.
However, roughly the same share of mothers and fathers say they don’t think school administrators should mandate vaccines.
It come as the country’s largest teacher’s union, the National Education Association, says it supports vaccine requirements for educators.
A new poll finds 63% of parents of children believe unvaccinated students and staff should be required to wear mask while 36% oppose. But 58% of mothers and fathers of 12-to-17-year-olds don’t want schools to require children to get vaccinated while 42% support it
Parents who identify as Democrats were more likely to support mask and vaccine mandates Republicans were more likely to oppose it. Pictured: A kindergarten student attends class at the Resurrection Catholic School in Los Angels, February 2021
For the report, the team surveyed 1,259 parents and guardians of children under age 18 between July 15 and August 2.
They found that 63 percent of parents of children between ages five and 17 believe unvaccinated students and staff should be required to wear mask.
The remaining 36 percent said they did not think face coverings should be mandated.
There were large racial and ethnic disparities between parents’ thoughts on masks.
About 83 of black parents and 76 percent of Hispanic parents support mask requirements compared to 54 percent of white parents.
Parents were also split along party-lines with 88 percent of Democrats saying their child’s school should require masks and 69 percent of Republicans saying school should not.
However, when it came to vaccine requirements, a majority of parents said they do not support vaccine mandates.
The survey found that 58 percent of mothers and fathers of 12-to-17-year-olds, who are eligible to get vaccinated, don’t want schools to require children to get vaccinated while 42 percent support it.
Parents of teenagers who has already gotten the vaccine were more likely to be in favor of COVID-19 vaccine requirements.
Three-quarters, or 75 percent, of parents of vaccinated children said they believe schools should mandate vaccines.
Meanwhile, 83 percent of parents of unvaccinated children oppose such requirements.
‘Despite controversy around the country about masks in schools, most parents want their school to require masks of unvaccinated students and staff,’ KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a news release.
‘At the same time, most parents don’t want their schools to require their kids get a COVID-19 vaccine despite their effectiveness in combatting COVID-19.’
There were also racial and political divides on the subject of Covid vaccine mandates.
Approximately two-thirds of Democratic parents support vaccine mandates and three-quarters of Republican parents opposing mandates.
What’s more, the majority of white and black parents oppose schools requiring vaccines while Hispanic parents were split about 50/50.
It comes as the largest teachers’ union in the U.S. said it supports policies requiring teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or to get tested regularly.
‘It is clear that the vaccination of those eligible is one of the most effective ways to keep schools safe,’ said Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, in a statement.
Pringle’s statement comes two days after Randi Weingarten, the leader of the second-largest union, American Federation of Teachers, said she supported vaccine mandates.
‘We believe that such vaccine requirements and accommodations are an appropriate, responsible, and necessary step,”. Pringle said.
About 90 percent of teachers who belong to the National Education Association are fully vaccinated.
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