WWU joins other Washington universities in making the call on required COVID vaccines
Western Washington University will require students, staff and faculty to be vaccinated against COVID-19 when in-person classes resume in fall.
WWU President Sabah Randhawa made the announcement at the university’s website.
“This decision was endorsed by the WWU board of trustees at a special meeting on Wednesday, May 5, in the belief that it will protect the health and safety of the community on- and off-campus and speed our return to more normal in-person operations,” Randhawa said.
Requests for religious, personal and medical exemptions will be handled on an individual basis in accordance with WWU’s policy on measles vaccination, he said.
Information on how to request an exemption will be provided soon.
“We will continue to follow local, state and national health directives, and reserve the right to change this directive if circumstances change,” Randhawa said.
Several public and private universities in Washington state already said that proof of COVID-19 vaccination would be required for those on campus, including Washington State University and the University of Washington.
WWU students switched to online classes in spring 2020 as the new coronavirus pandemic began to spread, but campus officials recently said that in-person classes will resume in fall 2021.
“Classes at Western in 2021 have been mostly online, with about 1,000 out of 15,000 students regularly on campus for in-person classes for courses very difficult to conduct online, such as performing arts and some labs,” WWU spokesman Paul Cocke told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
Fall 2021 classes at Western will be mostly in-person, with some remote classes possible for several reasons, Cocke said.
The university has conducted 33,430 COVID tests, with 105 positive results, 17 of those in the spring term, 50 in winter and 38 in fall.
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 6:21 PM.
