California college system makes COVID vaccines mandatory for students, staff and faculty
The University of California says COVID-19 vaccines will be mandatory for students, faculty and staff starting this fall semester.
The mandate, announced by UC officials Friday, shifts from a previous policy announced in April which would only require immunization if at least one vaccine on the market received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The policy will be effective Aug. 4 — two weeks before the start of the fall term — and is poised to allow “narrow medical exceptions” and will allow petitions for religious exceptions. The university system anticipates having mostly in-person learning by the fall and noted it will continue a “campus testing plan” which will test weekly at a minimum. Those with exceptions will be required to wear masks in public.
“Cases of COVID-19 have been on a steady decline over the last few months and vaccination is the primary driver of this trend,” the announcement read. “Being vaccinated is simply the best protection against COVID-19. A high vaccination rate in our population also helps protect those in our community who cannot be vaccinated. We urge you to get vaccinated now if you are medically able to.”
The UC Immunization Policy since 2016 requires that all students be vaccinated against “diseases that can be passed on to others by respiratory transmission.” The official document lists these as measles, mumps, rubella, varicella/chickenpox, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. Students under 21 were required to receive the meningococcal conjugate vaccine. Now, the COVID-19 vaccine will join these requirements.
Some university employees are concerned about the mandated vaccinations. The University Professional and Technical Employees Union was among a group of unions that filed an unfair labor practice charge against UC for refusing to negotiate the implementation of a flu vaccine mandate.
Teamsters Local 10, another union involved in the unfair labor practice charge, accused UC of “unilaterally implementing a vaccination policy that would violate workers’ rights.”
The previous policy was announced in cooperation with California State University, but CSU has yet to announce whether it will be updating their vaccine mandate. CSU spokesperson Michael Uhlenkamp told the San Francisco Chronicle that the university system would “continue to evaluate the situation” as the fall semester draws closer.
Lia Mimun, a student at UC Berkeley, told the Bee she believes that mandate is “necessary.” She noted that, despite the many regulations in place to keep students safe, some disregarded safety measures. The vaccine would make lax safety measures less dangerous.
The UC system has 285,862 students enrolled across graduate and undergraduate programs.
