A Standish college has become the latest Maine school to require students and staff to be vaccinated against the coronavirus before the fall semester.
Saint Joseph’s College students and staff will have until July 1 to submit proof of vaccination for campus activities beginning Aug. 27, while those arriving at campus after that date have until Aug. 1, according to the Portland Press Herald.
That follows the lead of other Maine universities, including Bates College in Lewiston, Bowdoin College in Brunswick, the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor and the University of New England in Biddeford, that have mandated vaccination for students and staff before returning to campus this fall.
Maine’s public university system isn’t mandating COVID-19 vaccination because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only authorized the vaccines for emergency use, a position echoed at other universities across the country. But fully vaccinated students will be exempt from COVID-19 testing and quarantining at the University of Maine System’s seven campuses.
Saint Joseph’s will consider nonmedical exemptions on a case-by-case basis, the newspaper reported.