INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s governor says he won’t block Indiana University’s plans to require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for all students and employees despite many state officials arguing against that policy.
IU said last week it was reviewing its “process for verifying the requirement” after the state attorney general issued a non-binding opinion that the policy was illegal under a new state law banning the state or local governments from requiring vaccine passports.
Nearly 20 Republican Indiana House members sent a letter to the governor asking him to prohibit any state university from mandating vaccines that don’t have full U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a weekend interview that he believed “this will work its way out.”
“There’s more than one way to skin a cat,” Holcomb told WTHR on Sunday. “The conversations are ongoing right now. But I don’t plan on doing an executive order.”
An IU spokesman didn’t immediately reply to a request for a response to Holcomb’s comments. IU officials have defended the vaccine requirement as a way to safely resume full in-person classes and events on all of its campuses across the state for the fall semester.
