Colleges and universities across the country are mandating students to receive an updated COVID-19 booster shot, but some are calling the requirement “out of line” and unnecessary.
Students at Yale University, University of Notre Dame, Tufts University, Harvard University and Fordham College are all being required to obtain an updated COVID-19 bivalent booster vaccine, with some putting attendance on the line as punishment for not getting the extra shot. Fordham University in New York City required students to be fully up to date with their vaccinations as well as the “updated bivalent booster” by Nov. 1, 2022.
At Tufts University, faculty, students and staff are being required to obtain a COVID-19 bivalent booster by Jan. 23, 2023. “Currently, only around 50% of our university population has received the bivalent booster. The closer we get to 100%, the healthier our community will be,” a Nov. 30 announcement from Tufts University read. Yale University is requiring students to get “an updated, bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster by the start of the spring semester,” while faculty and staff are “strongly encouraged” to get the updated vaccine booster.