--- title: University of California Requiring Students Get Measles Vaccinations description: The announcement comes as California deals with a virulent measles outbreak canonical: https://time.com/3699789/university-california-measles-shots-vaccines/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-06T23:20:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:57.707Z article:section: Health og:title: University of California Requiring Students Get Measles Vaccinations og:description: The announcement comes as California deals with a virulent measles outbreak og:url: https://time.com/3699789/university-california-measles-shots-vaccines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1fc9ee29c27a5a8/69877e1e524fc038cadec5bb/73909004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: university of california vaccination og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: University of California Requiring Students Get Measles Vaccinations twitter:description: The announcement comes as California deals with a virulent measles outbreak twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc1fc9ee29c27a5a8/69877e1e524fc038cadec5bb/73909004.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # University of California to Require Measles Shots for Students > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: How Anti-Vaxxers Put Everyone at Risk](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ai82XWJ8.m3u8) (2:06)  _Published 2014-09-24. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the misinformation coming from opponents of childhood vaccinations_ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Feb 6, 2015 11:20 PM UTC  UC Berkeley students walk through Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus, April 17, 2007 in Berkeley. The University of California system has mandated that all incoming students be vaccinated. UC Berkeley students walk through Sproul Plaza on the UC Berkeley campus, April 17, 2007 in Berkeley. The University of California system has mandated that all incoming students be vaccinated. Justin Sullivan—Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Feb 6, 2015 11:20 PM UTC The University of California will require incoming students to be vaccinated for measles and other diseases beginning in 2017, as the current outbreak that began at Disneyland continues to spread. The new policy has far-reaching implications, with nearly 250,000 postgraduate and undergraduate students across University of California’s 10 campuses. “The University of California will require incoming students to be screened for tuberculosis and vaccinated for measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, meningococcus, tetanus and whooping cough, under a plan set to take effect in 2017,” the UC said in a [statement](http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/uc-plans-require-vaccinations-incoming-students). The policy has been in the works for a year, but it is being announced at a critical time for vaccinations. California is dealing with a rash of measles infections, a highly contagious disease that began at Disneyland in December and leaving more than 100 people ill across 14 states since then. Health experts have attributed the California outbreak to increasing numbers of parents’ decision not to [immunize their children against measles](http://time.com/3696139/measles-outbreak-2015-cdc-says-vaccinate/). Parents’ fears that vaccines cause autism stem from a single paper in the late 1990s, which today has been debunked as false. Highly infectious diseases like measles and mumps can be particularly virulent on college campuses, where students live in close quarters. 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