Many US Colleges to Require COVID-19 Vaccinations for In-Campus Students

4/30/2021

Avani Lakkireddy

Duke and Notre Dame are just some of the many schools that necessitate COVID vaccines for their students in the upcoming school year.

After Rutgers University announced its decision to make COVID vaccinations mandatory in late March, several schools followed suit, including Brown, Cornell, Boston University, and a growing number of others. Rutgers President Jonathan Halloway explained in a press release that vaccinations are instrumental in “returning to a pre-pandemic normal.”

Anthony Halloway, the leader of the Rutgers COVID-19 taskforce added that, "Vaccinations are an important tool for making the fall semester safe. We felt that just simply encouraging would not have the same effect as a requirement."

37 out of the 50 states have already opened up vaccinations for people above 16, making the vaccine mandate quite achievable for college-age students. To facilitate this process, though, many universities have also opened up their campuses as vaccine administration stations.

But, this mandate also comes with some unanswered questions. For international students who don’t have access to the vaccine, certain colleges have said that they would “vaccinate those students ourselves.”

“I think that vaccine requirements are a step in the right direction to acquire herd immunity,” says Meghana Lakkireddy ‘21, a Barstow senior attending Wellesley College this fall. Wellesley College does not currently have a vaccine mandate, but it is probable that it will follow suit after many other colleges in the area. Many seniors share Lakkireddy’s view, saying that vaccinations are an important part to keep college students and faculty safe and healthy.

This phenomenon is not new, as colleges and universities have required vaccines for a number of infectious diseases for decades. But never has there been such an overarching call for vaccines.

College campuses have had an especially hard time regulating the spread of COVID-19 due to large social gatherings often synonymous with universities. In order to curb that danger this fall, many more universities will most likely create vaccine mandates to protect their students and faculty.

Colleges have also implemented other COVID-19 regulatory measures. For example, the University of California San Diego has said that it will continue its mask mandate as well as routine COVID-19 testing throughout the year.

With this new requirement, many students and teachers are hopeful for the coming year, as it may mark the beginning of a long-awaited return to normal.

A full list of schools with a vaccine mandate can be found here.

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B-Line students write articles that capture what it means to be part of the Barstow community, and record, review and analyze current events.

B-Line's origins date back to 1897, when students published "The School Paper," from Barstow's Quality Hill campus. It was published under various names in following decades, including "The Cornpatch," when Barstow moved to State Line in 1961. Today, B-Line is primarily a digital publication.

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Lucia Scott
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Ms. Scott is an expert in communications, both spoken and written. Besides leading the staff of student journalists at B-Line, she teaches Advanced Debate and middle school Introduction to Debate, International Studies and Current Events.

She attended high school in the Wichita area where she occupied herself with debate and writing. Ms. Scott obtained her degree in secondary education (speech/ theatre) with a minor in communication studies from Kansas State University. She received her master’s degree in communication from Baylor University in 2018.

She believes every student should be a capable communicator and self-advocate shaping their own future. She finds that both mass communication settings like B-Line and rhetorical settings like debate prepare students for their future.