Seneca College, which had adopted one of the strictest COVID-19 policies of Ontario post-secondary institutions and whose vaccine mandate was successfully upheld in court last month, is dropping its vaccine requirement starting in the new year.
“Regretfully, but necessarily, I am announcing today that Seneca’s vaccination policy will end on Dec. 31, 2022,” is how President David Agnew began his memo posted on the college’s website Monday. Students, staff and visitors will no longer have to show proof of vaccination to enter campus. Mandatory masking, however, will continue in instructional spaces such as classrooms and labs until further notice.
“I’m a huge believer in vaccinations. They’re just so blatantly necessary … they’re literally lifesaving,” Agnew told the Toronto Star, frustration obvious in his voice. “We’ve lost tens of thousands of people through COVID. We’ve got this amazing, rapidly produced, highly effective vaccine at our fingertips, and yet it’s become impossible for us to, frankly, enforce our vaccination policy.”