Boston University Requires Faculty & Staff to Be Vaccinated for Fall Term

Boston University has now decided to ask its faculty and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19 by September 2, 2021, when the fall term begins, University’s President Robert Brown wrote in a letter sent to staff which was published on the Office of the President’s website.

In April, the university imposed a vaccination requirement for all students so they can be able to attend lessons in the fall semester, Erudera.com reports.

“We previously mandated that all our students be vaccinated for the Fall 2021 Semester. It is critically important that our faculty and staff are also vaccinated. We hoped to accomplish the goal of community-wide vaccination without a mandate, but kept the option of requiring vaccination open if we did not reach our goal,” Brown said in the letter.

He added that during the summer, the institution worked with faculty and staff to get all members of the university’s community vaccinated against COVID-19, claiming that having the vast majority of the community vaccinated is critical for the “safe repopulation of campuses.”  

In the letter, Brown also highlighted that faculty and staff will be able to apply for an exemption due to medical or religious reasons, adding that those who do not manage to get vaccinated or show an exemption before the deadline will have to follow other public health rules or in some cases to be placed on a leave of absence until they are vaccinated.

President also cited a survey sent to faculty and staff in May, asking students to reveal their vaccination status and plan. So far, 72.1 percent of faculty and 76.4 percent of staff and affiliates have completed the survey and showed proof of vaccination.

Brown pointed out that according to the survey and the uploaded vaccination information, 71.3 percent of faculty and 73.6 percent of staff are currently vaccinated or are expected to be vaccinated by August 1.

“These totals are significantly below what we need to safely return our campuses to near-normal operation in the fall,” Brown wrote.

In order to facilitate the vaccination process, Boston University will offer walk-in vaccination clinics on the Charles River Campus.

In a bid to increase the number of students vaccinated against COVID-19, another US university, Central Michigan University has most recently launched a vaccine incentive program with prizes including four full-year scholarships and hundreds of gift cards.