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Back at the end of March just as the COVID-19 vaccine was rolling out to the general public, Rutgers University in NJ, became the first university to require that students returning to school for the Fall semester be fully vaccinated. It was a statement in support of the vaccine and a bold one considering that Rutgers is a state school and not a private one.
Since then, many more colleges have signaled that they too will require that students be vaccinated if they want to attend in-person classes in the Fall. There will certainly be exceptions for those that can prove that they cannot be vaccinated for some medical reason. But simply being against vaccines will not be one of those reasons at most colleges (at least the ones in typically liberal-leaning states). In fact, already over 400 colleges and universities have mandated vaccination for in-person learning. Others, like the University of North Carolina, have announced that they will not require that in-person students be vaccinated, but expect schools like this to be in the minority.
colleges and universities may not actually be legally able to mandate vaccination
As reported in Inside Higher Education yesterday, colleges and universities may not actually be legally able to mandate vaccination. They point to a century-old Supreme Court decision that did give schools the ability to mandate vaccines (and indeed, many K-12 schools require other types of vaccinations). However, the COVID-19 vaccine is still technically in the “temporary emergency use” status, which by nature, does not signal full approval from the FDA. Pfizer and other manufacturers have signaled they will be applying for full-status with the FDA soon. And as Inside Higher Ed points out, that may spur even more vaccine requirements by the time schools begin to welcome kids back to the Fall semester, which for some schools, is less than three months away.
