As a parent and public health professional, I enthusiastically support adding FDA approved COVID-19 vaccines to the mandatory childhood immunizations required to attend public school. Vaccine mandates are an American tradition dating back centuries, recognizing that the need to protect the public sometimes outweighs individual freedoms. Just like we require measles, hepatitis A, and pertussis vaccines, we should require vaccination against COVID-19, the most disruptive pandemic in our lifetimes. Students whose parents uphold their end of the social bargain by vaccinating their children should not be exposed to children who are likely to spread disease throughout the school and disrupt in-person education and activities. Students who are immunocompromised should NOT have to be exposed to unvaccinated children who could carry a disease that could prove deadly to them, in order to access public education. Adding COVID-19 vaccines to the childhood vaccine schedule, once approved, is a common-sense solution to return a semblance of normality to our schools.