San Jose State University and all California State University schools will require all faculty, staff and students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 if they plan to attend a CSU campus during the fall 2021 term, the university system said today.
CSU officials chose to issue the requirement before the vaccines are formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “because of evolving circumstances.”
Public health officials have underscored the vaccines’ safety, noting that nearly 4 billion doses have been administered worldwide, substantially limiting serious COVID-related illness and death among vaccinated populations,particularly in the U.S.
CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro cited the ultra-contagious Delta variant as one reason the university system will require the vaccine to protect CSU students and employees.
“Receiving a COVID vaccine continues to be the best way to mitigate the spread of the virus,” Castro said in a July 27 statement. “We urge all members of the CSU community to get vaccinated as soon as possible, and announcing this requirement now allows members of the CSU community to receive multiple doses of a vaccine as we head into the beginning of the fall term.”
According to the CSU chancellor’s office, vaccination deadlines will vary by campus, but all vaccination status certifications must be completed by Sept. 30.
Vaccines are available on-site at several CSU campuses and unvaccinated students and staff are encouraged to contact their campus to determine their options and availability.
Students and employees will also have access to medical and religious exemptions and virtual courses if they do not intend to attend class on campus.
Catherine Hutchinson, president of the CSU Employees Union, said in a statement that the CSUEU and other labor officials met with Castro Tuesday morning and fully support “all efforts, whether it be through the state or the CSU, to ensure vaccinations reach more Californians.”
“Throughout the pandemic, our Union has worked closely with the California State University to prioritize student and staff safety, from demanding (personal protective equipment) to creating the conditions for students to return to schools safely,” Hutchinson said.
The California Faculty Association, which represents professors and lecturers at all 23 CSU campuses, said in a statement that its leaders will work with the chancellor’s office to ensure that students and staff are protected from the virus on campus.
“I am vaccinated, and I encourage faculty to get vaccinated if they can so that we all do our part to make the CSU a safe place to work,” CFA President Charles Toombs said.
CSU officials plan to unveil their formal vaccination policy in the coming days, according to Castro’s office.
The mask and vaccine lunacy continues in a County (Santa Clara) that has a 7-day average of 0-deaths from COVID, and 70% of eligible individuals have received two doses (including me), including the most vulnerable. What does that mean? The vaccine works and continued mask and vaccine mandates are a waste of time and energy. A vaccinated kid, or kid in general sitting in a classroom? Well, there is literally no point for them to be wearing a mask. It’s nonsensical.
Also, I believe state schools can mandate a vaccine, but they can’t mandate you to show evidence. Private schools can, but publicly funded schools can’t.
CA is so far behind other states in reopening, and it’s just poor, inconsistent leadership across the board, that literally scared it citizens into thinking the vaccines are ineffective.
It doesn’t matter if the issue is race, class, gender, geography, economics, or COVID vaccination, you can always count on the Left to exploit if for its divisive value. Their tactics are not original but they are damned effective, capitalizing on the herd-like instincts that arise among the frightened, angry, or otherwise cognitively compromised. Lenin used these tactics to enslave the Russians, Hitler used them to unite and militarize ethnic Germans, Zionists began using them a century ago to divide the Palestinian population.
If you find yourself resenting, hating, or supportive of using discriminatory measures against someone because they did or did not avail themselves of the vaccine, you owe it to yourself to let out a long moo so that you may better understand yourself. Oh, and when with like others, be careful not to step into a warm pile.
As a parent of a CSU student, I’m glad that the CSU schools, as well as the UC’s, are requiring vaccinations. One thing we don’t understand, though, is that they are allowing for religious exemptions. The medical exemption, however, is logical. My take is that if any exemptions are allowed, then that would also exempt the student (or faculty or staff) from any in-person activities.
Hopefully this will turn out to be bad information but I see reports online of Israel’s Ministry of Health finding the Pfizer vaccine, our most commonly used, their only one – to be only about 40% efficacious at preventing all signs of infection with Delta variant. Higher protection from severe disease but not 94% like we were told it was against the variant it was designed to prevent.
In Israel, after the Delta variant arrived, they went from 10 to 20 cases per day to 1,000 to 2,000 per a Covid stats website I use. In only six weeks, from Mid June until two days back . Israel is one of the better vaccinated countries- though the stats online do not show it to be better than parts of the US- I thin it’s as good as any state in the US – but not smaller areas -Marin County has a very high vaccination rate for example
But IF, hopefully it’s wrong, but IF 60% of vaccinated people can still get sick, as Israel Health thinks – and if they had cases go up 100 times in 6 weeks, it seems very likely our California schools will open just about the time a most people have been infected, at any point in the epidemic – we might be protected by our high rates of previous infection – or maybe one of the other vaccines we use will work better- but we will still have sky high rates by all indications I can see now.
I am very frustrated by the schools, which should have reopened in Fall 2020 for most kids – and probably stayed open since then -again for most, not all. And certainly nearly all teachers should have been forced back after they were given vaccine preference, at least before Delta hit – but, right now, it may be prudent to delay reopening another six weeks or so- I am not happy about it, but it’s not clear kids are as safe from this variant as they were from previous types, or our vaccines are good enough.