Cal State Joins UC Campuses In Requiring COVID-19 Booster Shots

CALIFORNIA — Amid an uptick in new coronavirus cases and the spread of the omicron variant, the California State University announced Wednesday that faculty, staff and students who are accessing university facilities or programs will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. The update follows a booster mandate announced Tuesday by the University of California.

"Vaccination, including a booster when eligible, remains our most effective strategy against infection and severe disease," CSU Chancellor Joseph Castro said. "This is particularly important in light of the rapid rise of cases of COVID-19 throughout the state and nation as the Omicron variant spreads. Implementing the booster requirement now will help mitigate the potential spread of the variant on campuses as they repopulate in January after the winter break."

The booster policy applies to all 23 CSU campuses across the state, as well as CSU satellite sites.

The new CSU requirement calls for boosters to be received by Feb. 28, or six months after an individual received the final dose of the original vaccination, whichever is later. Individual campuses may establish an earlier date for compliance for students and non-represented employees based on local circumstances.

Represented employees will not be subject to the booster requirement until the CSU concludes its meet-and-confer process with its labor unions.

CSU students and employees will be permitted to seek exemptions on medical and religious grounds, according to university officials.

The CSU's announcement comes one day after University of California President Dr. Michael Drake sent a letter to all 10 system chancellors stressing that COVID vaccine booster shots will be required for eligible students and staff.

Drake also directed the chancellors to develop a plan for a possible switch to remote learning when courses resume in January.

"The emergence of this new and fast-moving variant, coupled with student travel to and from campus and the prevalence of gatherings over the holidays, will present our campuses with a unique set of public health challenges as we begin the New Year," Drake wrote. "I am asking each of you to design and implement a plan for a January return to campus ...."

Each UC campus will be required to incorporate a test, sequester and retest model for returning students, which will likely require most campuses to begin the spring term using remote instruction "to allow students to complete an appropriate testing protocol as they return to campus," according to Drake.

Read more here about the UC mandate.

—City News Service and Patch editor Kat Schuster contributed to this report.