Rutgers University will require Covid-19 vaccine for students enrolled in the fall

Rutgers University will require Covid-19 vaccine for students enrolled in the fall

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It is one of the first universities in the United States to do such a mandate, as schools begin to prepare for a return to campus life after a year of remote or hybrid learning due to the pandemic.

“In support of Rutgers ‘commitment to the health and safety of all members of its community, the University will be updating its Student Immunization Requirements to include the COVID-19 vaccine,” wrote Rutgers’ leadership in a message to the university community On thursday .

“This health policy update means that, with limited exceptions, all students planning to attend the fall of 2021 semester must be fully vaccinated.”

Students can apply for exemption for medical or religious reasons, the university said. Otherwise, proof of vaccination will be required for all students attending face-to-face classes.

Waiting for a ‘sense of normalcy on campus’

Arielle Dublin, vice president of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, said she supports the school’s decision.

Dublin, a fourth-year student, served on the university’s “restart committee”, made up of professors, administrators and students, who made suggestions to Antonio Calcado, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rutgers.

“I think at the end of the day, the goal is to get students to come back and have a sense of normalcy on campus,” Dublin told CNN. “And to really have that sense of normalcy on campus, you need to recognize that we have to take care of our bodies and make sure that everyone around us is doing well, too.”

Is requiring the vaccine legal?

Universities, like some employers, may require immunizations, and the Covid-19 vaccine is no exception, said Renee Mattei Myers, a Pennsylvania lawyer.

“They may demand this, but they need to have processes in place for exceptions,” said Myers, for example, for medical and religious reasons.

Can your boss demand that you be vaccinated?
Some experts say it is still a gray area – the Food and Drug Administration has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (USA) for all three vaccines now in use in the United States. But that does not mean formal approval.

“From what we know about vaccines so far, it is a very favorable proposition to be vaccinated,” said Dr. Howard Forman, director and founder of the MD / MBA program at the Yale School of Medicine. “But, according to the principles of biomedical ethics, you really want to be able to protect individual choice in the matter as much as possible.”

In its guidelines on products that are authorized for emergency use, the US Food and Drug Administration says recipients should be informed that they “have the option to accept or refuse the US product and any consequences of refusing to administer the product” .
The question of whether US vaccines can be mandatory “has never been tested in court, and there are very strong legal arguments against that view” that they are experimental and should not be mandatory, Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, a professor of law at the University of California, wrote last month.

“At this point, while there is still legal uncertainty, my view is that the balance of factors supports the ability of employers (or states) to require vaccines from the United States,” wrote Reiss. “Courts vary, but my current assessment is that most courts would be inclined to maintain an employer mandate for a US COVID-19 vaccine.”

Research: Many students agree that colleges have the right to demand the vaccine

The overwhelming majority of students believe that universities and colleges have the right to require inoculation, according to a survey by College Pulse, a research firm that focuses on colleges and universities, published in January. In a survey of 1,000 students, 71% said that “colleges have the right to require students to be vaccinated before returning to campus”.

Hayley Slusser, editor in chief of Rutgers’ student newspaper, The Daily Targum, called the university’s decision “the right choice.”

Although she has not yet been vaccinated, she said that she will do it when it is available to her.

“Security is really important,” Slusser, who will be a veteran this fall, told CNN. “As someone who goes to school and lives with a high-risk individual, I would feel more comfortable knowing that everyone on campus is vaccinated and we would not contribute to anyone getting sick on campus (with Covid-19) ever again.”

Nicholas F. LaBelle, president of the Rutgers University Student Assembly, also described the university’s mandate as “the right measure”.

“We look forward to working not only with the University administration to achieve this goal, but also to ensure that the vaccine is distributed equitably, efficiently and is an example for similar institutions,” LaBelle said in a statement.

“Through shared vigilance and unity, Rutgers will return as the beloved community that we have cultivated throughout these tumultuous times and set out for a brighter tomorrow.”

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