Over 100 US Colleges & Universities Oblige Students to Get COVID-19 Vaccine Before Returning to Campuses

More than 100 universities and colleges across the United States are obliging their students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to be able to return to campuses in the fall and begin a normal academic year.

According to Erudera.com, although higher education institutions are asking their students to get any of the vaccines developed so far, the latter are skeptical and hesitant about it.

A recent poll conducted by the Quinnipiac University has revealed that 36 percent of adults under the age of 35 are not planning to get any COVID-19 vaccine.

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Rochelle Walensky, said that most of the younger adults in the country are not vaccinated yet, asserting that this is a serious problem as the COVID-19 infection cases have been increasing in the country recently.

Earlier this month, the media reported that there are at least 14 universities and colleges that have included this requirement in their policy. Since then, several other universities have followed and joined the list as well. Yet, some education institutions said they would exclude students who refuse to get the vaccine for medical, religious, or personal reasons.

The majority of institutions that have adopted such a policy are private; however, there are also a number of public institutions. Some of the universities which have already joined the list include:

• Drew University
• The University of Massachusetts at Lowell
• Washington State University
• University of Portland

The University of Massachusetts Lowell said in a statement that it requires students, whether they are all residential or commuters, to be fully vaccinated against Coronavirus before returning to campus in the fall semester.

Furthermore, the University of Portland also announced that it is pushing forward the policy, and all its staff and students will be able to return to the university’s fall courses only if they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

“We recognize that not all areas of the country or the world have equity in access to vaccines, and we commit to providing assistance to our students and employees,” the University of Portland said in a statement.

The first university to oblige its students to get the COVID-19 vaccine was Rutgers University, warning them that, on the contrary, they would not be allowed to enter the campus during the fall semester.

Similar to Rutgers, Yale University and Columbia University, Princeton University, John Hopkins University, the University of Rochester, and Washington State University have also required their students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 so they can attend the fall semester.