The Los Angeles school district is launching an ambitious campaign to vaccinate 12- to 15-year-old students before the end of the current school year that will reach 250 campuses, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.

The goal is to reach eligible students before they leave campus for the summer, helping to pave the way for a fall semester in which as many children as possible will have maximum protection from COVID-19. Beutner said he sees the effort as both a major public health measure and a confidence builder that will persuade more families to return to campus.

“No other organization has such a deep relationship with that many children,” Beutner said in remarks prepared for his weekly Monday broadcast. “Schools are trusted partners with the families they serve and are in almost daily contact with their students. This engagement is a critical piece of any vaccination effort. There’s no better place to provide vaccinations to schoolchildren than at their local, neighborhood school.”

He said in an interview that government agencies are committed to providing the doses the district would need to carry out the large-scale effort, which is scheduled to begin May 24.

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