Which COVID-19 Vaccine Will My College Accept?

A growing list of California colleges has indicated they require students to be vaccinated with a COVID-19 vaccine to attend in-person classes for Fall 2021.

For the roughly 160,000 international college students enrolled in California, vaccine mandates introduce a new complexity: Will the COVID-19 vaccines offered abroad be accepted at colleges in the USA.

Recently, the University of California system announced a draft policy that says only World Health Organization (WHO) approved COVID-19 vaccines will be acceptable.

In the USA, there are three experimental COVID-19 vaccines Authorized but not Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as of May 7, 2021.

Globally, eleven other COVID-19 vaccines are being administered in various countries, such as China and Russia. In aggregate, independent data reports more people have been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccines outside of the USA.

International students arriving in the USA inoculated with non-WHO-approved vaccines may be revaccinated, according to current guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

However, the CDC guidance published on April 27, 2021, says that no 'data are available on the safety or efficacy” of receiving an FDA-Authorized vaccine after receiving one that isn’t.'

“We’re encouraging everyone whether they’re in the U.S. or another country to get the vaccine that’s available to them,” said Dr. Sarah Van Orman, who is also a member of the COVID-19 Taskforce for the American Health College Association, in a recent CalMatters article.

“I don’t think people should be concerned about revaccination at this point,” Van Orman added.

The primary point of these guidelines is to vaccinate as many students as possible to reduce the spreading of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus to keep college campuses safe.