California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced his administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for schoolchildren has been delayed until next year.

In 2021, the Golden State was the first to announce that it would require all school-aged children to receive the vaccine.

Fox News reports:

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends everyone above the age of five years old get vaccinated against COVID-19 – and everyone ages 12 years and older get boosted – the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is the only vaccine authorized or approved for emergency use in children ages 5 through 17 years.

Additionally, federal regulators have not yet granted final approval for coronavirus vaccine use to anyone younger than 16.

“So based on these two facts — we don’t have full FDA approval, and we recognize the implementation challenges that schools and school leaders would face — that we are not moving to have a vaccine requirement for schools in this coming academic year and no sooner than July 2023,” California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly explained in an interview.

“Until children’s access to COVID vaccination is greatly improved, I believe that a state-wide policy to require COVID vaccination in schools is not the immediate priority, although it is an appropriate safety policy for many school districts in communities with good vaccine access,” he in a release.

Newsom said he was waiting for final approval from Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulators to enforce the mandate.