By Emily Rogers
CSULB students are required to receive their booster shot by Feb. 28, or six months after receiving their final dose of the original vaccination, in order to attend in-person classes and access facilities for spring 2022.
Long Beach State is hosting two separate clinics on campus to provide booster shots and vaccines for students, staff and faculty.
The CSULB Vaccine Clinic, located via the entrance of Student Health Services, offers the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and booster and is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The On-Campus City of Long Beach Clinic, located outside the campus bookstore, offers the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, as well as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna boosters. This clinic is open between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and appointments are strongly encouraged.
As of Feb. 9, nearly 17,000 vaccinations have been administered to students, faculty and staff on the CSULB campus, according to the college’s COVID-19 dashboard.
“The booster shot is necessary to prevent a possible outbreak of cases on campus,” said Jonathan Echeverria, a second-year biomedical engineering major. “It’s intended to protect the teachers as well as the students.”
Students can submit their proof of vaccination through the Student Vaccination Certification form on the university’s single sign-on webpage.
Pictures or scanned copies of vaccine cards are acceptable forms of proof. Free digital copies of vaccination records can be accessed and downloaded by visiting the Digital COVID-19 Vaccine Record.
“Roughly 15,500 students have submitted a vaccine booster attestation,” said Gregory Woods, the director of news and media services at CSULB.
Students with a medical exemption from the vaccine must file an approved Medical Exemption Request form “completed by a board certified, licensed physician (MD, DO), Physician Assistant (PA), or Nurse Practitioner (NP),” according to the CSULB immunization’s website.
Medical exemption forms are to be emailed to BMAC at bmac@csulb.edu.
Those with a religious exemption may be considered through submission to the Office of Equity and Diversity by emailing oed@csulb.edu.
All unvaccinated individuals must participate in the COVID-19 testing program. Failure to participate will result in a placed hold on a student’s record.
COVID-19 testing is hosted in the university’s former Chartroom, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday. The Pyramid also offers testing from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday. While walk-ins are welcome, appointments are strongly encouraged.
All students must complete the online pre-health screening questionnaire each day they come to campus through the university’s SSO.
Face coverings must be worn at all times by staff, faculty, students, and visitors when indoors on campus. Gaiters, bandanas, or masks with one-way bypass valves are not considered acceptable face coverings in accordance with CSULB policy.
