St. Louis University (SLU) released a letter on June 8, declaring that the COVID-19 vaccine will be required for all students, faculty, and staff who will be returning to campus in the fall of 2021. This document noted the decline in cases and called the current era a “time for rejuvenation.”
The letter, written by the school’s President Fred Pestello, reads: “I asked a representative working group of 13 faculty, staff and students to assess whether we should require COVID-19 vaccinations or adopt other COVID-19 vaccine policies for students and employees who will be present on our St. Louis campuses this fall, or who will be studying abroad.
“Our colleagues on the committee have recommended to me that we require all students, staff, and faculty be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.”
COVID-19 vaccinations will be required for all students, staff, and faculty physically present on our St. Louis campuses, as well as for all SLU students studying outside the United States.
Exemptions will be granted on the “grounds of religious beliefs or medical circumstances.”
“This direction was validated Friday with new guidance released from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which states that institutes of higher education where all faculty, staff and students are fully vaccinated can return to a normal, full-capacity operation.”
The group of 13 people affiliated with the college made the decision to require specific medical treatments based on comments and the actions of some other universities. No medical doctors are listed as being consulted, or any specific health care professionals. Competing colleges like California State University, the University of Virginia, and Rutgers University in New Jersey have put similar requirements in place for the fall 2021 semester.
