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Portland Community College Will Not Require Vaccines This Fall

After state universities opted to require vaccines, PCC will not.

50675791018_93f9ca60b4_3k Drive-thru COVID-19 testing clinic at Portland Community College Cascade campus on Dec. 2. (Motoya Nakamura / Multnomah County)
By Rachel Monahan

The state’s public universities are requiring vaccines for the fall, but Portland Community College will not.

In announcing its decision on June 21, PCC said it factored in the likelihood that a vaccine requirement could be an obstacle to students getting an education, particularly among Black and Indigenous students.

According to the college’s press release: “Because vaccination access and hesitancy looks different across racial lines, vaccination requirements create a barrier to educational access that will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). This would not reflect PCC’s institutional values of equity, inclusion and belonging.”

At the same time, in somewhat contradictory fashion, PCC said that both students and staff have hit a higher than 70% vaccination rate, according to surveys, and that the state allows for personal, religious and medical exemptions, meaning people can evade a vaccine requirement and the school would never hit 100%.

Portland State University, Oregon State and the University of Oregon will all require vaccines.

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