At Least 100 American Colleges Will Now Require Students To Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Updated September 8, 2021

Even at the best of times, attending college can make for a stressful chapter of your life.

Although it's full of enlightening experiences and fascinating people, those can come at some heavy costs. College is expensive so some of those costs are literal but others have more to do with dealing with heavy workloads, sweating over upcoming exams, and your least favorite classmates and professors.

Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it seems that students have had to keep the stressful parts of college while sacrificing many of the aspects that we remember fondly after we graduate.

Fortunately, there's a chance that many students will be able to put virtual learning behind them as fall rolls around. But depending on where they're enrolled, that will depend one important condition.

Over the past year, college and university campuses have been at the epicenter of some serious COVID-19 outbreaks.

Wikimedia Commons | SalveWebT, Andrew Jameson

As The New York Times reported, over 660,000 cases were connected to these institutions since the pandemic began and about a third of them have arisen in 2021 alone.

For instance, recent weeks have seen Rhode Island's Salve Regina University cancel in-person events after 30 students tested positive for the virus over the course of a week, while Wayne State University in Detroit has taken similar measures in light of the city's status as a major coronavirus hotspot.

Situations like these led the American College Health Association to recommend that schools at this level adopt vaccine requirements for all on-campus students starting this fall.

Reddit | wavyacjo

And according to CNN, that's precisely what 14 colleges and universities did earlier this month.

But as the weeks went on, dozens more such as the University of Portland, Washington State University, and Drew University ended up joining the list.

And now enough schools have considered such a measure that 100 colleges throughout the country will now require students to receive vaccines, according to a New York Times survey.

Reddit | My-name-was-hear

And as the newspaper reported, these requirements vary depending on the college as institutions like Emory University, DePaul University, and Wesleyan University are requiring all students and staff to be vaccinated.

Meanwhile, others are limiting this requirement to athletes and students who live on campus. Furthermore, most schools are allowing medical, religious, and other exemptions that also vary from place to place.

Most of the colleges to adopt these requirements have been private institutions, but some public universities are also among their ranks.

Reddit | fortheminh

According to The New York Times, this is particularly true within the University System of Maryland, in which all colleges will require all employees and students to be vaccinated before the fall semester.

For the system's chancellor, Jay A. Perman, this was decided out of concern for the further spread of the B.1.1.7 variant and other COVID-19 mutations that are considered more contagious.

As he put it, "That’s what we’re preparing for. More infectious, more harmful variants that we think could be circulating on our campuses come fall."

Among the colleges and universities that aren't requiring student vaccinations are some schools that are instead planning to incentivize the practice.

Reddit | Lilmissnickie, [deleted]

For instance, Baylor University in Texas and Calvin University in Michigan are presenting vaccination as a means for students to skip mandatory testing.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that the University of Wyoming is making vaccinated staff members and students eligible for weekly draws offering Apple products and tickets to football and basketball games as prizes. Fully vaccinated employees are also eligible for a personal day off.

h/t: The New York Times

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