SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — The California State University system announced Tuesday that it will require all faculty, staff, and students accessing any campus facilities at any location this fall to be vaccinated.
The university system said due to, "evolving circumstances, the university is announcing the pending requirement now without waiting for any further action by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dates by which faculty, staff and students must certify vaccination will vary by campus due to differences in academic calendars, but all certifications must be completed no later than September 30."
For San Diego State, students, faculty and staff must upload their vaccination documentation by August 16, as the first day of the fall semester is August 20 and the first day of classes is August 23.
The vaccination requirement comes after the University of California system announced in June that it would require all students, staff, and faculty to be vaccinated for COVID-19 this fall as well.
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Previously, both university systems had said they were waiting on FDA approval of the vaccines before requiring them.
"The current surge in COVID cases due to the spread of the highly infectious Delta variant is an alarming new factor that we must consider as we look to maintain the health and well-being of students, employees and visitors to our campuses this fall," said CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro. "Receiving a COVID vaccine continues to be the best way to mitigate the spread of the virus. 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."
The CSU’s COVID-19 vaccination policy will allow students and employees to request medical and religious exemptions from getting the vaccine.
The system added that several CSU campuses are hosting vaccine distribution and that students and employees who wish to be vaccinated against COVID-19 should contact their campus for availability.
For students who plan to continue their enrollment at a CSU campus but don't wish to attend campus this fall, the system expects most campuses to offer more virtual courses compared to before the pandemic. The system will not be able to make every course available in a virtual format due to "resource limitations," the system's release said.
CSU said it is currently in the meet and confer process with their labor unions and those details for represented employees will be shared at a later time.
A statement by San Diego State after the announcement said that mandatory testing announced earlier this month for all students would not only be for unvaccinated students with an approved medical or religious exemption on file.
The school added that for students to live on campus this fall, the college is requiring that all residents upload a copy of a negative COVID-19 test result to the university's health portal online at least 48 hours before their move-in date. Tests must be administered no earlier than seven days before move-in, regardless of vaccination status.
SDSU said that it has implemented residence hall waste-water testing as one of its new preventative and monitoring protocols in place for the fall semester.
