With a fourth wave of COVID-19 now underway across Canada, the University of Saskatchewan is announcing that all students, faculty and staff will have to be fully vaccinated this fall before entering an on-campus building.
Proof of a first vaccination will be required by September 7 and a second dose by October 18.
Those unable or unwilling to get vaccinated will be required to provide regular and frequent negative COVID-19 test results and to submit a daily symptom checklist in order to access the campus.
Additionally, for those involved in higher-risk activities—including those living in residence and those involved in Huskie Athletics—vaccinations will be required for participation. Requests for exemption from this vaccination requirement will be considered in alignment with The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code. The university is currently reviewing other areas of programming that carry elevated COVID-19 transmission risks, and will update the campus community as those additional activities are identified.
All current COVID-19 health and safety measures remain in place including indoor mask requirements, wastewater testing, some continued on-line programming, space reconfigurations in high-traffic areas, and enhanced cleaning.
The University says this decision is being made after recommendations from its Pandemic Response and Recovery team becaue of the emerging Delta variants and the stalled vaccination rates amongst those under 30 in Saskatchewan
“The science is unequivocal and overwhelming: vaccinations are the clearest path to beating COVID-19 and its dangerous variants,” said USask President Peter Stoicheff. “We are eager to resume as much in-person teaching, learning and research as we possibly can by January. Only widespread vaccination and testing throughout our campuses can make this happen.”
Full details on how to provide proof of vaccination will be announced in the coming days.