Vaccines should be required for all CSU students

The California State University system requires all enrolled students to be vaccinated for measles, mumps and rubella.

Ditto for hepatitis B, chickenpox, tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

But now CSU has decided that it won’t require students returning this fall to its 23 campuses, including San Jose State and CSU East Bay, to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Say what?

That approach makes zero sense. The state of California should be modeling the importance of COVID-19 vaccinations for all adults across the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom should tell CSU leaders to revisit the issue before the fall semester begins Aug. 23.

The University of California and private colleges and universities should also mandate vaccines. More than a dozen universities across the nation already have announced plans to do just that when students return for inperson classes.

California and the nation are in a desperate race against time to get as many people as possible vaccinated before highly contagious variants force another set of lockdowns. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are on the rise among 18- to 24-year-olds.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise to CSU officials. Police had to break up a party of hundreds of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo students celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on March 17. And San Diego State had a COVID-19 outbreak last fall and canceled spring break altogether this year.

Without a vaccination mandate, CSU history is sure to repeat itself. What do university officials expect will happen when students return to campuses after being locked down at homes for the better part of a year? Dorms, fraternities, sororities and off-campus housing will become super-spreader venues as nonvaccinated students socialize and party.

“Have you been vaccinated?” isn’t likely any student’s idea of a conversation starter. And universities lack sufficient workforce — or willingness — to enforce mask and social-distancing requirements. The COVID-19 spread will be exacerbated when students return home for breaks and holidays.

CSU spokesman Michael Uhlenkamp said university officials are worried about legal liability because the vaccines are currently being offered under U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Emergency Use Authorization.

But formal approval could come as early as this summer after the FDA collects the required six months of data. And courts have upheld challenges to the state’s vaccine mandates for the past century.

Nevertheless, Uhlenkamp said, CSU campuses may require specific populations of students, such as athletes or dorm residents, to be vaccinated this fall. That inconsistency of selective vaccination requirements doesn’t compute. All college activities pose risks for unvaccinated students and the staff that serve them.

Until California reaches herd immunity, the threat of another coronavirus surge is not going away. Requiring CSU students to be vaccinated as a condition of enrolling in classes isn’t just a reasonable request. It’s imperative to stop the needless spread of a virus that has infected nearly 4 million Californians and killed more than 60,000.