Local community colleges push students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated

At its Aug. 10 meeting, the Allan Hancock College board of trustees voted 5-0 to require students, faculty, and staff to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19 by Oct. 1. 

click to enlarge Local community colleges push students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALLAN HANCOCK COLLEGE
FOR THE DOGS : Allan Hancock College students will receive a $250 gift card for receiving their vaccination.

This new mandate puts the college in line with other higher education institutions including the California State University and University of California systems and more than 20 California community colleges, according to Hancock officials. 

“When talking about the mandate, the board of trustees felt that the best thing we could do for the community was set more rigid guidelines that would push people to get vaccinated,” Hancock Superintendent Kevin Walthers said. “We’re an organization built on science and research. For us not to follow the science and research would be irresponsible.” 

Until all on-campus students are vaccinated, the college will have symptoms screening points and students will eventually receive vaccine ID cards, Walthers said.

To encourage student vaccinations, Hancock College is also doing a vaccine drive that will give fully vaccinated students a $250 cash gift card. 

Walthers said the college put its federal CARES Act funds toward this process, which is a way to incentivize vaccinations and for students to get extra dollars in their pocket. 

click to enlarge Local community colleges push students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated
PHOTO COURTESY OF CUESTA COLLEGE
GO COUGARS : Cuesta College began its vaccine drive on Monday, Aug. 23. Vaccinated students will receive a $250 cash gift card and be entered into a drawing for a $5,000 scholarship.

Cuesta College in SLO is also going this route. The college announced that it would be applying those federal dollars toward cash gift cards on Aug. 23.

“We tried to encourage the vaccine, but have options in our community in order to choose,” Cuesta Interim Assistant Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Coira said. “We would love to get 100 percent of our students vaccinated and hope to find out the ratings in the next couple of weeks.”

Cuesta has not yet decided on a vaccine mandate, but it currently has indoor mask requirements, a daily self-report system to monitor symptoms for both students and faculty, temperature screenings, and a student health center that focuses on the physical and mental health impacts of COVID-19. 

“Community colleges as a whole have not been mandated; different institutions have taken different approaches to the vaccine requirements,” Coira said. 

Cuesta’s vaccine policy may change after a special board meeting on Aug. 25 (after the Sun’s press time), where they planned to discuss the possibility of requiring a vaccine for those who want to be on campus. 

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