Two of the nation's largest university systems, covering most of California, announced that everyone involved with on campus activities will be required to have the Covid-19 vaccine. This requires all University of California and California State University students, staff, and faculty to be vaccinated by the time school starts in the fall. Both the UC and CSU systems said the full implementation of the requirement will come when FDA grants the vaccines full FDA approval of the vaccine. Some exclusions apply to those who can not get vaccines due to medical reasons, but that is a case by case scenario.
“Together, the CSU and UC enroll and employ more than one million students and employees across 33 major university campuses, so this is the most comprehensive and consequential university plan for COVID-19 vaccines in the country,” wrote CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro.
Right now, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are operating under the emergency use authorization and are currently undergoing the process to get the full FDA approval. Several months ago, the UC and CSU system both said they plan to have students back on campus for fall of 2021. Many CSU and UC campuses have recently been operating as vaccination sites and some have preliminary plans to continue with the vaccines in order to accommodate students and employees who may still need the shots come fall. Other private campuses like Stanford University recently also implemented the requirement of having students vaccinated before the mass return to campus.