Some of the largest colleges and universities in the United States are preparing for a post-pandemic world this fall. Recently, California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC) announced their intention to require faculty, staff, and students to be immunized. In a joint statement, CSU and UC said the requirement will become effective at the beginning of the fall 2021 term, or upon full FDA approval of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“Together, the CSU and UC enroll and employ more than one million students and employees across 33 university campuses, so this is the most comprehensive and consequential university plan for COVID-19 vaccines in the country,” said CSU Chancellor Joseph I. Castro in a statement. “Consistent with previous CSU announcements related to the university’s response to the pandemic, we are sharing this information now to give students, their families, and our employees ample time to make plans to be vaccinated prior to the start of the fall term.”
In a fall planning update letter, University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, the first Latino to lead a campus in the Massachusetts public university system, encouraged students, faculty, and staff to get vaccinated as soon as they are eligible to help create a safer campus community. “Together, we can make a difference – or as we say in Spanish ¡Juntos si Podemos,” he wrote.
Rhode Island-based Brown University said it plans to require COVID-19 vaccines for all undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. However, exemptions will be granted to students on medical and religious grounds, Brown said in an open letter.
New Jersey’s Rutgers announced much earlier this year that the university will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students who are enrolled for the 2021 fall semester. Exemption will be granted for students enrolled in fully remote online degree programs, the university said in its statement.
Vaccines are highly encouraged, said North Carolina State University. Faculty, staff, students, alumni, family members, and even members of the community, can get vaccinated at NC State.
On April 23, University System of Maryland Chancellor Jay A. Perman issued a COVID vaccination mandate for USM students, faculty, and staff.
“We’ve been living with COVID for so long now that we forget we’re still in the middle of a public health emergency,” Perman wrote in a statement. “But these variants—and the increasing disease burden in young people—are reminding us again that we’re not out of the woods. And I’m convinced that the risk of doing too little to contain COVID on campus this fall is far greater than the risk of doing too much. For this reason, I’m requiring that all eligible students, faculty, and staff who will be on our Maryland campuses this fall be vaccinated against COVID. Of course, we’ll comply with all federal and state laws in granting appropriate exemptions for medical or religious reasons.”
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