As higher education institutions prepare for the new academic year, universities on both sides of the Atlantic demand full vaccination and compulsory face masks on campus.
The move is meant to stop the Delta variant from causing the chaos seen in universities last year. In the United States, colleges are increasingly requiring students to get Covid-19 vaccinated to comply with campus vaccine requirements.
A list of institutions, gathered by Best Colleges, is updated regularly as new information becomes available daily. Before arriving back on campus this fall, college and university students must have received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine. The new mandate is led by schools such as Cornell University and Duke University.
Meanwhile, some public and private universities are holding back and waiting to determine the legality of such a mandate. As background, most colleges already require students to be vaccinated against other viral diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella. But some lawmakers and at least two lawsuits argue that inoculation cannot be made mandatory, according to the Best Colleges Website.
Colleges requiring the Covid-19 vaccine include American Jewish University, California Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Yale University, George Washington University, Howard University, University of Hawai’i Community Colleges, University of Chicago, University of New England, Loyola University Maryland, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, Rutgers University, Bronx Community College, The City College of New York, University of Pennsylvania, Rice University, Seattle Film Institute, and many others. The full list of institutions requiring the Covid-19 vaccine is here.
The list covers vaccine requirements for the fall 2021 on-campus or residential students only. Individual college and university policies may consider vaccine exemptions and some institutions may require that all students get vaccinated, including the non-residential ones. Institutions could push unvaccinated students to enroll online. Unvaccinated students could also be excluded from studying abroad.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom
The University and College Union (UCU), in response to University staff demanding the full vaccination of all students by September, has written to Gavin Williamson, the U.K. Education Secretary. In the letter, the UCU warns that “the Covid chaos seen in universities last year will be repeated unless strict measures are in place to protect staff and students.”
The Union is asking that all the students must be double vaccinated before the start of the new term in September. The Union also asks universities to “provide and mandate the wearing of high-quality face masks by both staff and students, access to free PCR tests, and funding from the government to support education recovery,” according to The Guardian.
Also, according to The Guardian, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “We Strongly encourage all students to take up the offer of both vaccine doses as soon as they become eligible. We also recommend that face covering be worn in enclosed and crowded spaces where people may come into contact with people they do not normally meet, or in the event of a local outbreak.”
The UCU advises to ensure vital health and safety measures on-campus, including the provision and mandated wearing of masks. “A return to the level of disruption experienced last year would be unforgivable.”
Vaccinated people should mask up
The UCU recommends the mandate of mask wearing on-campus because fully vaccinated people are testing positive for Covid.
According to the CDC, the level of transmission in the U.S. is high, and recommends that all those who have been vaccinated wear masks in accordance with the latest data about the Delta variant transmission.
“The Delta variant is more efficient in transmitting from person to person,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
According to experts, it takes a lot of immunity to stop upper-respiratory tract infections. Less so, for lung protection. So, vaccinated people will get less sick from the virus. Yet, they can still transmit the Delta variant faster than you can say ‘cat.’ This means that the mandate for wearing masks on-campus is a sensible one.