Kids aged 5 and up in San Francisco will have to show PROOF of vaccination status

Children as young as five in San Francisco, California will soon be required to present proof of Covid-19 vaccination for access to certain indoor venues such as restaurants, public health officials have revealed.

Speaking on Tuesday, public health official Dr Susan Philip said she anticipated the vaccine mandate to be extended to five- to 11-year-olds once enough time has passed for the minors to be considered fully inoculated – essentially, 14 days after completing Pfizer's two-dose regimen.

"We definitely want to wait and make sure children have an opportunity to get vaccinated, no sooner than eight weeks after the vaccine is available for kids," the city health officer said, as cited by the San Francisco Chronicle.

There will be a limited time where there will not be those requirements. But there will be a point where children will also have to show proof of vaccination to access some of those settings

The San Francisco mandate already in place requires all over-12s to prove that they are inoculated against Covid to gain entry to dining and entertainment establishments, gyms and large events.

While adults must show photo identification alongside their vaccination cards, this is not required for adolescents as they may not have ID. The same approach will be taken for younger children, a spokesperson from the San Francisco Department of Public Health disclosed to Politico.

The Californian city has wasted no time in extending the proof-of-vaccination requirement to some of its youngest residents. The plans come shortly after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walensky approved vaccinating children in the five-to-11 age bracket with Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid jab. Two shots, at a strength one-third that of jabs given to those 12 and over, will be administered to this younger cohort, 21 days apart.

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