Centralia College’s on-campus students, professors and staff will have until Monday, Oct. 18, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or continue their business remotely, the college recently announced.
This requirement is part of an updated mandate ordered by Gov. Jay Inslee on Aug. 27 which requires all staff, faculty, contractors and volunteers at higher education institutes to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus by the deadline. It follows similar requirements made for public school and state workers.
Similar to previous vaccine mandates, medical and religious exemptions are available.
In order to be deemed "fully vaccinated" by Oct. 18, students and staff must receive both doses of either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or the single-dose J&J vaccine, by Oct. 4, the college says. Full efficacy for Moderna vaccines takes 28 days, so recipients must get their first dose by Sept. 6, and full efficacy for Pfizer kicks in after 21 days, so recipients must receive their first dose by Sept. 13.
The Centralia College Board of Trustees are scheduled to discuss this topic at its regular meeting 3 p.m. this Thursday, Sept. 9.
Centralia College’s fall quarter begins Sept. 20.
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The article will be updated.
