St. Louis University Is the Latest College to Require COVID-19 Vaccines for Fall Semester

Nurses are seen walking out of the Covid-19 Vaccine wing of University Hospital in Gold Coast, Australia on Feb. 22, 2021. Glenn Hunt/Getty Images

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.

Across the nation, colleges are making plans for next fall. COVID-19 rules and procedures have been put in place at virtually every university in the United States, but how far these requirements go and how long they will continue is uncertain.

According to the CDC’s national studies, females made up two-thirds of individuals who experienced adverse reactions to the vaccine during the first month of administering it. In a study published in the JAMA Network, 15 out of 16 allergic reactions to mRNA COVID-19 shots were also women.

According to SLU, their student body is comprised of 60 percent women and approximately 65 percent of the faculty is female. According to the Pew Research Center, women have been the “majority of college-educated adults for more than a decade.”

Across the nation, colleges will be welcoming women back in the fall, and requiring COVID-19 shots is more likely to affect their health. SLU’s announcement letter offered no mention of this, or whether or not the direct connection between female biology and adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccination were considered in the university’s decision to require the shot for the next school year. It also failed to explain whether or not SLU will accept responsibility if students, faculty, or other staff members experience vaccine injury.

In response to questions about liability for vaccine injury, the school gave no comment. But The Epoch Times was able to contact the Director of Media Relations for Missouri State University who offered a brief statement on their policy going into the new school year, which does not require vaccines for in-person learning, teaching, or other campus-related work: “The University of Missouri is strongly encouraging, but not requiring, our community (faculty, staff and students) to get the vaccine. We are planning for in-person, full capacity classes in the fall, and having as many people as possible in our community vaccinated will go a long way in helping ensure a safe semester.”

Emphasis on the safety of everyone involved with the University of Missouri allows individuals to consult with the health care providers and make decisions based on their unique needs. This affords women—who are more at risk for COVID-19 reactions—the ability to enter the fall 2021 semester without choosing between their education and heightened medical concerns.