Rutgers College requires a Covid vaccine for college kids returning to campus this fall

A worker prepares materials for vaccination at the University Hospital’s COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey, the United States, on December 15, 2020.

Eduardo Munoz | Reuters

Rutgers University will require students to return to their campus this fall to prove they have been vaccinated against Covid-19. This makes it one of the first institutions in the USA to commission the vaccinations.

Rutgers President Jonathan Holloway announced the change on Thursday, saying in a statement that the university plans to update its vaccination requirements for students on campus to include the Covid-19 vaccine.

Students must provide evidence that they have been fully vaccinated with any of the three shots currently approved in the US – Pfizer, Moderna, or Johnson & Johnson. However, students under the age of 18 are only eligible for the Pfizer shot.

Students who are fully enrolled in online courses and who do not have access to on-campus facilities are said to be exempt from vaccination, as are those with medical or religious reasons that prohibit vaccination.

Many universities in the United States struggled to bring students back to their campuses during the pandemic, following various reopening plans. Some institutions have been forced to crack down on gatherings and off-campus events that have sparked outbreaks in the surrounding community.

“From the beginning of the pandemic, the safety of the wider Rutgers community was our shared responsibility. This has never been more true,” Holloway said in the statement. “The importance of having an effective vaccination program to keep our community safer for all cannot be overstated.”

Requiring students to get vaccinated against the disease will allow Rutgers to resume a wide range of activities and allow for an “accelerated return to normalcy before the pandemic,” the statement said. The widespread vaccination enables the university to offer more face-to-face teaching as well as expanded dining and recreational opportunities.

The decision was based in part on President Joe Biden’s assessment that every American will have access to a vaccine by the end of May.

A number of states have announced that they will open vaccine licensing to all adults in the coming weeks, before Biden meets the May 1 deadline for state extension to all eligible residents.

New Jersey officials have agreed to the New Brunswick-based university to begin administering vaccines to students and faculty as more doses become available. However, the university urges “all members of its community currently eligible to receive a vaccine not to wait” and to be vaccinated “as soon as possible” because the state has not yet provided supplies.