Cornell University Requires Students to Be Vaccinated by Dec. 15, Extends Vaccine Mandate for Faculty & Staff

Students pursuing studies at Cornell University must be vaccinated by December 15, 2021, the university has announced.

The requirement applies to all students attending classes on the Ithaca, Geneva, and Cornell Tech campuses or participating in programs in Ithaca for the 2021/22 academic year, Erudera.com reports.

“Students who have already provided proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or received a religious or medical exemption, do not need to take any further action to meet the 2021-2022 COVID-19 vaccine requirement,” the university noted.

Students, whether they are undergraduate, graduate, or professional, must show proof of vaccination for COVID-19. According to Cornell, those who do not comply with the requirement will be subject to progressive enforcement measures.

Moreover, students who are not vaccinated but have obtained an approved medical or religious exemption should adhere to the university’s public health requirements for unvaccinated persons, including protective measures such as maintaining distance, wearing a mask while indoors, and completing surveillance testing.

On the other hand, after the decision of the federal government to extend the deadline for vaccination, all employees at Cornell University can now vaccinate by January 18, 2022, or present an approved exemption for medical or religious reasons.

“This requirement extends to temporary and casual employees as well as those who work fully or partially from a remote location,” the university adds.

Cornell’s community should be vaccinated with one of the vaccines authorized or approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). At the moment, the following vaccines are authorized:

• AstraZeneca-Oxford (e.g., Covishield, Vaxzevria)
• Covaxin
• Janssen (Johnson & Johnson)
• Moderna 
• Pfizer-BioNTech (e.g., COMIRNATY, Tozinameran)
• Sinopharm (Vero Cell)
• Sinovac (CoronaVac, Vero Cell)

In September this year, US President Biden announced an executive order requiring all employees of certain contractors to vaccinate against COVID-19.

Students, faculty, staff, and other community members will have to provide proof of vaccination that should include the manufacturer of the vaccine, the number of doses received, including boosters, the dates and the location where the person was vaccinated, as well as an image of individual’s vaccination card.

Currently, the university is not asking its community members to receive a booster shot, however, it encouraged the latter to consider the booster once eligible due to an increase in cases.

As of November 28, the total number of vaccinated students at Cornell University reaches 25,988, and there are 13,198 vaccinated faculty and staff.