Vaccination Requirements For Clinical/External Site Courses

Dear M State Healthcare Students,

We continue to receive ongoing updates from our clinical partners detailing the specifics around COVID-19 vaccinations and we will provide those to you as we receive them. Most facilities will mirror student requirements to their employee requirements.

Most of you are already fully immunized for COVID, and we thank you on behalf of your fellow students, the faculty and staff, and your future patients. You are modeling the best of clinical decision-making as you prepare for entry into practice.

Those of you who have not yet chosen to be immunized face a challenging decision. Immunization is ultimately a personal decision, one which M State respects. As you make this important decision, please understand that your immunization decision will likely have profound implications for your chosen healthcare career.

• No later than October 4, 2021, M State will require vaccination attestation for specific student groups or populations that are in settings where there is close and frequent contact with others. This includes students who are required to as directed by clinical or internships sites. These sites may have requirements or mandates that may go beyond the attestation and testing required by Minnesota State for students in other contexts.
• There may be limited circumstances where there is a business purpose for employees to ask students about their vaccination status, in addition to those specific situations noted above (e.g. arriving international students where there are different testing/quarantine protocols for vaccinated vs. unvaccinated). In those instances, a student's response is voluntary, and a refusal to respond will result in an assumption that a student is unvaccinated.
• M State will provide access to testing and cover any associated costs unless paid for by an external party such as the clinical or internship site.
• While M State does not mandate COVID immunization for students, most of our clinical and field placement partners have adopted immunization mandates. We are obligated to follow all requirements set by our clinical/field sites.
• Organizations throughout the region voluntarily provide clinical and field placements to help M State educate future healthcare professionals. In exchange for this valuable service to our students, M State must agree to comply with all standards expected by our community partners.
• In order for you to graduate from your program and seek professional licensure/certification, you must complete all required clinical/field placements. Clinical and field experiences are required by programmatic accreditors and regulatory bodies as part of your education, and the College cannot make exceptions. Failure to provide evidence of immunization to clinical/field placement partners puts your graduation and/or course completion at risk.
• You are training to become a healthcare professional which requires adhering to clinical best practices including immunizations, masking, use of PPE, and other public health disease control practices. Immunization is one of these fundamental professional expectations. All M State health sciences and nursing students are already required to have proof of many different immunizations, and this new COVID immunization is simply one more protection against dangerous, infectious diseases.

As you make your personal decision, please weigh your concerns about immunization against your desire to serve as a healthcare professional. If you choose to delay your immunization, you may delay your graduation and entry into your professional role.

M State will continue to monitor the evolving pandemic and remain steadfast in ensuring that our college protects the health and safety of our students and support them in achieving their educational goals.

For information and questions related to religious or medical exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccinations, please contact the dean of students.

For general vaccination information or program-specific vaccination requirement please refer to the M State coronavirus site https://www.minnesota.edu/coronavirus