BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) – LSU along with the University of Louisiana system both say students will not have to get the vaccine before the fall semester.

Xavier University is making it a requirement, while Southern University hasn’t made any plans yet.

“It’s interesting that the COVID vaccination, for some reason in some circles, is being treated as unique in terms of being required, but we’ve had vaccinations that have been required for school, for travel for years,” said Dr. Jacob Wood, a Family Practice Physician.

Dr. Wood said his two daughters who go to LSU have been vaccinated.

“When you have 30,000 students, such as the size as LSU, that’s a lot of people if a virus such as COVID would enter the university situation, you could have a large percentage of your students get very sick, very quickly,” said Dr. Michelle Flechas, a Pediatrician.

Right now, there are at least seven vaccinations required depending on the college.

Shots are needed for measles, polio, and most recently meningitis.

The doctors said the vaccine is the best way to get back to some type of normalcy.

“I feel that the COVID vaccine is very safe. I’ve given it to myself and I’ve given it to my entire family. So, if I didn’t recommend it to my family, I wouldn’t recommend it for yours,” said Dr. Flechas.

“Hopefully, you have a level of trust with your provider that when you walk out of that situation you feel like you’ve been given the right information and adequate information to make a good, solid decision about what you’re gonna do,” said Dr. Wood.