Name: Stanford University requires students to be vaccinated, as UC, Cal State plan for same move
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Stanford University requires students to be vaccinated, as UC, Cal State plan for same move

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Thousands of students returning to Stanford University this fall will need to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, campus officials announced Thursday, as California’s two big public university systems outlined similar plans.California State University said Thursday it expects to have a requirement similar to Stanford’s, but is holding off until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves at least one vaccine — which may not occur until after the fall semester begins. Currently, the FDA has authorized three vaccines for emergency use to fight the deadly pandemic.The University of California has a similar proposal pending. It would require all students, employees and trainees who live or work on campus to be inoculated once the FDA has fully approved a vaccine. The UC regents meet next on May 12 and 13. Until they approve a policy, UC says it is “encouraging COVID-19 vaccinations.”Altogether, the requirements would affect more than 1 million students, prompting CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro to call the announcements “the most comprehensive and consequential university plan for COVID-19 vaccines in the country.”Coronavirus PandemicThe California universities join others across the country, as well as some small private colleges such as Samuel Merritt University in Oakland, that have decided in recent weeks to make the vaccination a condition of returning to in-person instruction.For all of those schools, the COVID vaccination offers as close to a solution as is possible to avoiding a second year of remote instruction, with its anguish and uncertainties.For students, the joy of college is largely in campus life and gatherings. Zoom classes work well for some students, but not all. Several have sued campuses — unsuccessfully — for a reduction in their tuition or fees.Instructors had to learn how to transfer their courses online in a way that matched the rigor of their classroom meetings. Many will feel nothing but relief at returning to the three-dimensional world.California Community College Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley announced Thursday that although students at those 116 campuses won’t be required to get a vaccination, “we want everyone to take this important step in protecting themselves and their communities so we can put this pandemic behind us.”At Stanford, “all students will be asked about their vaccine status prior to their arrival on campus for the fall quarter,” Provost Persis Drell said in her written announcement to students Thursday. “We believe this approach to student vaccination is necessary to support health and safety this fall.”The requirement applies to students at all levels, from undergrads to those studying for professional degrees.Earlier this month, the provost told students that the university “is planning for as normal a fall as possible, with modifications as needed based on the public health situation.”Stanford hasn’t decided on requirements for faculty and staff, Drell said, but expects to do so soon.UC announced that it will return to mostly in-person instruction across its 10 campuses this fall.“Receiving a vaccine for the virus that causes COVID-19 is a key step people can take to protect themselves, their friends and family, and our campus communities while helping bring the pandemic to an end,” said UC President Michael Drake, a physician.Both UC and CSU said they would exempt students from the vaccine for medical or religious reasons.Nevertheless, unions representing UC staff members — including researchers, pharmacists and health care workers — say they are concerned that employees could lose their jobs if they decline to be vaccinated, said Jamie McDole, a nurse case manager at UC Davis and president of the University Professional &amp; Technical Employees union.Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California.The union is one of several that filed an unfair labor practice charge against UC last fall over the university’s mandated flu vaccine. The unions accused UC of making it difficult for employees to receive exemptions.“We have the right to negotiate anything that is a condition of employment,” McDole said Thursday, noting, however, that at least 70% of UC employees are already vaccinated.In its statement Thursday, CSU said the university’s 23 campuses will require students, faculty and staff on campus to be fully vaccinated after the FDA fully approves a vaccine, and as long as there is “adequate availability of the fully approved vaccines.”The CSU statement also said that before making any changes to the current vaccine requirements — which include mandatory inoculations and screenings for six diseases, including hepatitis B, chicken pox and tuberculosis — the university will consult with the California State Student Association, the Academic Senate and labor unions.Students and employees who don’t want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 on medical or religious grounds would be exempted, said the university, which announced in December that it expects to return to mostly in-person instruction in the fall.“It’s a sigh of relief for myself and many other students,” said James Aguilar, a San Francisco State University junior who serves on the California State Students Association and is running for the East Bay Assembly seat of Rob Bonta, who just became the state’s new.“I hope that students will be actively engaged in the process of implementing this policy going forward,” said Aguilar, who is vaccinated. “I would assume that students will definitely want assurance that there will be a hybrid (instruction) option or a fully online option if they choose not to have the vaccination, rather than requiring every single student to go back.”Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Tracking COVID-19 cases across the Bay Area and California.

Thousands of students returning to Stanford University this fall will need to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, campus officials announced Thursday, as California’s two big public university systems outlined similar plans.California State University said Thursday it expects to have a requirement similar to Stanford’s, but is holding off until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves at least one vaccine — which may not occur until after the fall semester begins. Currently, the FDA has authorized three vaccines for emergency use to fight the deadly pandemic.The...

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Nanette Asimov

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Stanford University requires students to be vaccinated, as UC, Cal State plan for same move

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