Thompson Rivers University has no plans right now to mandate that staff and faculty be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“No, there is no policy for faculty and staff to be vaccinated at this time,” Vice President of Administration at TRU, Matt Milovick, said while speaking on the NL Morning News.

That said, TRU is still encouraging all faculty and staff to get vaccinated as soon as possible to support a safe return to campus next month. As required by the B.C. government, all employees will be given paid leave so they can go and get vaccinated.

In another update Thursday evening, TRU said it will require all students, faculty and staff to self-disclose their vaccination status.

“For those not yet vaccinated, TRU will require individuals to undertake regular rapid COVID testing, which will be available on campus,” President Brett Fairbain said, in a statement.

“Our expectation is that our students, faculty and staff, as able, will be vaccinated this fall. Achieving a return to campus life as we once knew it is a shared responsibility requiring the participation of all members of our university community.”

Milovick’s comments came after Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, said that universities and colleges will be able to mandate vaccines for faculty and staff but not students, unless they’re in health sciences field.

Most students do not have to be vaccinated if they are only attending class, though they will have to be vaccinated if they want to live on campus or for some aspects of on-campus life like going to the campus pub or for a concert, or to join a club.

“The risk really is in communal living settings that we have seen transmission … that’s why we’re focusing on the increase and importance of immunization in those settings,” Henry said.

“We know the classroom setting is the least of the risky settings … we don’t believe there is a need for a vaccine mandate for students to receive in-class education.”

TRU students are set to return to class in just under two weeks, on September 7, and Milovick says staff are getting ready to welcome students back to campus after a year of virtual classes due to the pandemic.

“There’s been a lot of yo-yo and not a lot of downtime and I think that’s typical around the administration of the university right now,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of scrambling and a lot of planning so it’s been hectic.”

“We’re coming back face to face on campus. We do have some online offerings for international students who can’t get back to campus, to make sure that our first year students internationally had the opportunity to start their programs. But by and large, the majority of our programming is going to be face to face.”

In the event of a COVID outbreak on campus, Milovick says it will be up to Interior Health to manage it.

“We’re going to manage it as we did in the previous year, that is to say its managed through Interior Health,” he said. “That is Interior Health’s responsibility to manage the outbreaks and guide us accordingly.”

There will be a COVID-19 vaccine clinic on campus for people who have not yet had an opportunity to get vaccinated. Fairbain notes there will also be enhanced cleaning, barriers in high-traffic areas on campus, improved ventilation, and mandatory masks indoors.

“I hope that as we move closer to September, the measures to support your safety will make your return more comfortable, and that we are able to truly focus on why we are coming together on our campuses – to teach, to learn, to be part of a university community,” Fairbairn added.

For more details on TRU’s Return to Campus plan, go here.