Northeastern, Brown universities requiring students get vaccinated for fall semester
Northeastern is planning for a return to full-time, in-person learning in September with full occupancy in residence halls and dining facilities.
All Northeastern University students returning to campus next fall will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Boston school announced Tuesday.
The university is planning for a return to full-time, in-person learning in September with full occupancy in residence halls and dining facilities, Ken Henderson, the school’s chancellor and senior vice president for learning said in a statement.
Herd immunity is critical to reopening campus fully, the university said.
“In order to get herd immunity, we need to get a maximum number of people possible vaccinated,” Henderson said. “If all, or nearly all of our students are vaccinated, we expect that we’ll be able to achieve herd immunity.”
The school will allow for medical or religious exemptions and promised to help international students or others who cannot get vaccinated before arriving on campus in the fall to get a shot.
Northeastern will require proof of inoculation.
#Northeastern will require all students to be fully vaccinated against #COVID19 upon arrival this fall. https://t.co/h4DGQcej9I
— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) April 6, 2021
Brown University
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Brown University on Tuesday joined a growing number of colleges that will require students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning for in-person classes next fall.
“Starting in the Fall 2021 semester, Brown will require COVID-19 vaccines for all undergraduate, graduate and medical students who will be on campus or engage in any level of in-person instruction,” Christina Paxson, president of the Ivy League school, wrote in a letter to the campus community posted online.
Medical and religious exemptions will be allowed.
The university is still weighing whether to require employees to be vaccinated. That decision is expected in the summer.
In an email to the campus community, President Christina H. Paxson announced that Brown is planning to return to the traditional two-semester academic calendar and mostly in-person operations beginning in fall 2021. pic.twitter.com/xFZu1rjGwg
— Brown University (@BrownUniversity) April 6, 2021
The Providence school anticipates a return to a more traditional pre-pandemic academic experience for the 2021-22 school year, including standard occupancy for student residences, and expanded dining and recreation options on campus, she said.
“This year has been difficult for so many members of our community as the months of this pandemic have stretched on, and I know we all look forward to a greater return to normal,” Paxson wrote. “Although aspects of our lives will continue to be influenced by public health considerations for quite some time, I am looking toward next year with a sense of optimism.”
Roger Williams University in Rhode Island last week announced that it would require all students to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus next fall.
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