Local attorney: Colleges may require COVID-19 vaccination
Mattei Myers said each school may have different ideas and different requirements.
Mattei Myers said each school may have different ideas and different requirements.
Mattei Myers said each school may have different ideas and different requirements.
Renee Mattei Myers, a partner at Eckert Seamans Law Firm, said college students may be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to come to campus in the fall.
"This is just going to be one more thing, colleges and universities have been mandating vaccines for a long time in all types of situations," Mattei Myers said. "Meningitis is a big one because it can be so devastating. It's easily contracted, highly contagious in these types of close settings."
Mattei Myers said each school may have different ideas and different requirements.
Representatives from the University of Pittsburgh, California University of Pennsylvania, and Indiana University of Pennsylvania say they are encouraging vaccination. Cal U and IUP report that as Pennsylvania state-owned universities, they do not have the authority to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine.
West Virginia University is also only recommending vaccination.
Representatives from Duquesne University said they will have a fall plan after spring commencement and Point Park University said they will follow government recommendations.
If some universities mandate vaccination, Mattei Myers said, it won't be for everyone.
"These universities still have to make exceptions for these individuals and potential accommodations for those who are unable to be vaccinated," Mattei Myers said.
Mattei Myers said accommodations could mean keeping a student off-campus or out of the dorms.
"Unfortunately we don't have a right to send our kid to any specific school," Mattei Myers said. "He may have to look at number two on his list."