PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Providence College will require all students, faculty and staff to have a COVID-19 booster shot for the spring semester, unless they have a school-approved exemption, the college announced Monday.

The Roman Catholic school joins Brown University, the University of Rhode Island and Salve Regina University in the state in requiring boosters for the spring.

Providence students will also be required to document a negative point-of-origin test result within a maximum of five days of returning to campus in January.

The school, with about 4,100 students, is asking students, faculty and staff to get a booster as soon as possible, preferably before spring semester classes start Jan. 18. The deadline is Feb. 1. The school will also hold vaccination clinics on Jan. 19 and Jan. 21 for people unable to get their boosters over the break.

“The college is implementing these measures to build on the successes of the fall semester and to help maintain the elements of an in-person academic and community student experience in the face of health and safety challenges related to the COVID-19 coronavirus, especially the omicron variant,” the school said in a statement.

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