The list of colleges that will require students to be vaccinated before August is growing by the day, but so far only four Texas schools are on it.

Most colleges already require vaccinations against measles, mumps, and rubella, and those are viral.  There are hundreds of colleges and universities around the country that are adding a COVID-19 vaccine to that list, but UT-Tyler is NOT among them.  Neither is Kilgore College, LeTourneau University, or East Texas Baptist University.  So far anyway.

According to BestColleges.com, there are four colleges in Texas that are requiring students to get the COVID vaccine at this point.

Texas colleges requiring the vaccine:

Paul Quinn College
Rice University
Seminary of the Southwest
St. Edward's University

California has more than 35 college systems that are requiring it, and if you count each individual University of California campus, it's more than 50 locations that are making the vaccine card necessary for students.  New York has nearly 100 colleges with a vax requirement.  In Oklahoma, only Mid-America Christian University is requiring the vaccine this fall.

Louisiana colleges requiring the vaccine:

Dillard University
Loyola University New Orleans
Tulane University
Xavier University of Louisiana

With restrictions and mask requirements lifting all the time, it seems unlikely that Texas colleges and universities with no vaccine requirement would second-guess themselves so the no-vax-required strategy will probably stick.  Things are opening up, not shutting down, and that's creating freedom of choice for students at East Texas colleges.

There are roughly 1.5 million college students in Texas, and if more than 11 million people across Texas are fully vaccinated so far, it's a safe bet that thousands of college students are in that category.  Remember last year, when we weren't even sure if college campuses would be open in the fall, and we wondered if everything might be virtual for infinity?  2021 is putting all of that in the rearview mirror.

Classes start for students at UT-Tyler on August 23.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

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