The UL and LSU systems will not require students be vaccinated to attend in-person classes for the upcoming fall semester.
UL System President Jim Henderson said he has concerns about mandating students take a vaccine that is still under FDA emergency use authorization.
“Until there is a biologics license approved I’m just having some ethical challenges with requiring a vaccine,” said Henderson, who added full biological licensing for vaccines may not be available until 2022.
That being said Henderson called on all students to get a vaccine as soon as they can.
“We know vaccines are safe and we are strongly recommending as many people get vaccinated as possible, we are having vaccine fairs on our campuses,” said Henderson.
All Louisiana residents 16 and older are eligible to receive the vaccine at local pharmacies.
Despite not implementing a vaccine mandate Henderson is confident that our current vaccination rates will facilitate a safe fall campus experience, barring a new vaccine immune variant.
“I think this fall is going to look much closer to a traditional collegiate experience than this last fall, but again we are going to follow the science,” said Henderson.
Henderson said about 50 universities across the country have announced vaccine mandates, but a much larger number have either not weighed in, or said they will not require it.
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