DePaul University and Columbia College will both require all students to receive coronavirus vaccinations before returning to campus for the fall 2021 semester, the schools announced Wednesday.
According to a press release from DePaul, all undergraduate, graduate and professional students who plan to learn on-campus will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The school will host a vaccine clinic for students beginning April 27, running next Tuesday through Thursday at the Student Center in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood.
Students will be asked to verify that they have been vaccinated through the online portal Campus Connect, which is the same way other vaccines are recorded at the school. To register the vaccine, students need to provide their full name, date of birth and student ID number, according to the release.
DePaul noted that the school will accommodate medical and religious exemptions, although they "expect the vast majority of students will be vaccinated."
"Why is DePaul requiring students to be vaccinated? Simply put: safety, mutual care and social responsibility," DePaul University President A. Gabriel Esteban said. "The health and safety of our community, and the communities in which our students, faculty and staff live, have driven DePaul’s decision-making throughout the pandemic."
Students can also receive vaccines as part of Illinois' College Vaccination Days program at a clinic Thursday in the city's Old Town neighborhood. Click here for more information.
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At Columbia College, all students will be required to get vaccines, and the college anticipates that it will begin offering vaccinations over the next two weeks. They did warn that there will likely be more students than doses available, encouraging students to sign up for appointments wherever they can find them.
Students will be given the opportunity to receive Pfizer COVID vaccine doses, with Johnson & Johnson vaccines potentially becoming available when a nationwide pause on administration of the treatment is lifted.
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Vaccination for faculty and staff will not be required, but will be strongly encouraged, officials said.
