CSUs will require student vaccinations this fall. Here’s what that means for Cal Poly
Students, faculty and staff at Cal Poly and across the California State University system, will be required to document they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 if they wish to be on campus this fall.
The CSU announced its plans on Thursday, alongside the University of California system. In December, CSU confirmed it plans to hold the majority of instruction and activities on campus once again during the fall 2021 quarter.
Adding a vaccine requirement for everyone who will be on campus allows them to do so safely, the CSU said in a news release.
According to the release, any student, staff or faculty member who is accessing campus facilities at any CSU university location will be required to be immunized against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The requirement is conditional upon the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s full approval of one or more coronavirus vaccines. (As of Thursday, the FDA has only approved existing COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use.)
It is also dependent on “adequate availability of the fully approved vaccines,” according to the release. Students and employees will be able to seek an exemption from the requirement based on medical or religious grounds.
The requirement will become effective at the beginning of the fall term, or upon full FDA approval of the vaccine, whichever occurs later.
The CSU and UC systems enroll and employ more than 1 million students and employees across 33 university campuses, according to the release.
What does vaccine requirement mean for Cal Poly?
Cal Poly spokesman Matt Lazier said that many details of how this requirement will be implemented, including tracking who is vaccinated, still need to be ironed out.
That will likely be done at the CSU level in the coming weeks, he said.
In an email to campus Thursday, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said universal vaccination would “be a big step in conquering the coronavirus,” but he added that other safeguards like masking and social distancing could still stay in effect.
Armstrong also urged students to continue to be vigilant in preventing the spread of COVID-19.
“I cannot say this strongly enough: Please do not stop taking these simple, everyday actions to contain the pandemic,” he wrote. “These easy steps are what have prevented the pandemic, with its already-tragic impact, from being even worse. You have done so much to help yourselves and everyone else — please don’t stop until we get a clear signal from public health officials that it is safe to do so.”
Cal Poly also began vaccinating at-risk students on-campus via a university program this week.
Lazier said as of Friday, they expect to have distributed about 1,000 doses to students. The university anticipates distributing another 500 doses next week, he added.
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