UC, Cal State systems plan to require COVID-19 vaccination for all students this fall once shots are FDA-approved

The University of California and California State University announced Thursday that they intend to require COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, faculty and staff on campus properties this fall once the Food and Drug Administration gives formal approval to the vaccines and supplies are sufficiently available.

The directive is the largest of its kind in U.S. higher education, affecting more than 1 million members of the two public university systems. More than three dozen colleges nationwide have already announced they will require vaccination for enrollment this fall, including Claremont McKenna and Harvey Mudd in Claremont.

But UC and CSU have not yet taken that step because of questions over the legality of requiring vaccines before they have been formally approved by the FDA. Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are being distributed under emergency-use authorization, although health experts expect formal approval of at least one of them by the fall. The Johnson & Johnson/Janssen vaccine is on pause due to concerns about blot clots.

As with other mandatory shots for measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox, the COVID-19 directive would allow for students or employees to seek an exemption based on medical or religious grounds.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.