WALLA WALLA–In a letter to the Walla Walla Community College faculty, staff and students, president Chad Emerson Hickox, Ph.D., has expressed that the COVID-19 vaccination will not be required to return to campus this coming fall.

"To be clear, Walla Walla Community College will not strictly require students, staff or faculty to be vaccinated as a condition of enrollment or employment," said Hickox. "At the same time, the College very strongly encourages everyone on campus, and in the communities we serve, to be vaccinated. There's no question that vaccination is the most powerful tool available to fight this deadly virus, and mass vaccination is our best option to regain some sense of pre-pandemic normalcy in how the College functions.

He went on to say the while some colleges and universities in the state have opted to require vaccinations, Walla Walla Community College faces its own unique set of circumstances that prevent us from taking that action. First, we are not a residential college. For that reason and others, WWCC has historically not required vaccination of any type. Because we do not require other vaccines, we do not have the infrastructure or capacity for creating, storing, and protecting private health information. We also do not have the ability to enforce a vaccination mandate.

"Here's what we can and will do: WWCC will continue to educate our students, faculty, staff, and communities about the benefit of vaccination and the precautions we all need to take to stop the virus from spreading," said Hickox.

The college is looking for ways, similar to Governor Inslee's vaccination lottery message, and prize drawings taken from the vaccinated list in hopes to illicit unvaccinated people to become vaccinated. The college will also facilitate vaccination for our students, faculty and staff.

Currently, WWCC is working with the Walla Walla Department of Community Health to hold vaccination clinics on the Walla Walla campus and we are exploring ways to do the same on the Clarkston campus. Dates, times, and other details will be shared as soon as they are available.

WWCC will continue to monitor and conscientiously implement local, state, and federal public health directives. Here in Washington State, an order by Governor Inslee covering all of higher education remains in place. It requires wearing facemasks at all times on college and university campuses and everyone entering a college building must complete a brief health screening log. Once the Governor's office has given us updated guidance, we will adapt accordingly and update our WWCC plan, which will be shared widely as soon as it is available.