The University of California system will now require all of its students and staff who want to return to campus this fall to be vaccinated against COVID-19, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Regent Eloy Oritz Oakley told the newspaper that UC President Michael Drake “does plan to move forward with the vaccine mandate.”
It’s an about-face for the school system, which has 280,000 students and 227,000 faculty and staff across 10 campuses.
Drake, who is also a medical doctor, said in an April proposal that while all students and staff are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated, it would only be mandated “once a vaccine has full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.”
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The FDA has so far issued an emergency use authorization for three vaccines made by Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson.
It’s currently unclear when the vaccines will get full approval. Pfizer applied for full authorization of their vaccine on May 7, while Moderna applied for full authorization on June 1.