List of colleges and universities nationwide requiring COVID vaccine continues to grow

Several colleges nationwide have added the COVID-19 jab to its required list of vaccinations for students returning for the fall semester.

Students who attend Cornell University, Rutgers University, Fort Lewis College, Nova Southeastern University and St. Edward’s University will have to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus in the fall, with limited exemptions for underlying medical conditions and religious beliefs. And Brown University last Tuesday became another school to reveal its plans requiring students to receive the vaccine as part of a bid to return to relative normalcy on campus.

University President Christine Paxton made the announcement in a press release announcing a “more traditional academic year than the three-semester de-densified campus model the University employed this year to protect community health and safety during the peak of the pandemic.”

The return to campus in fall 2021 will include “normal” residential, co-curricular and athletic experiences for students.

“This planning is based on the increasing pace of vaccinations against COVID-19 and the expectations that the vast majority of the Brown community will be vaccinated by the end of the summer,” the press release reads.

“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.”

The majority of colleges and universities nationwide shut down campuses in March, when the global pandemic was ripping across the United States. Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, voiced his support for the new policy on Twitter.

“This is the right call. Vaccines get us our lives back,” he said.

Northeastern University in Boston on Tuesday also announced a vaccination requirement for students, joining the likes of Fort Lewis College.

“A broadly vaccinated student body provides our best hope for returning to the hands-on, inclusive, experiential, and personalized learning environment that we have all come to love,” Fort Lewis College President Tom Stritikus wrote in a letter to the student community.

The growing list of universities and colleges requiring the shot comes amid public push back against mandating the vaccine and things like vaccination passports.