Add Bowdoin to the list of colleges that will insist on vaccinations for fall classes...
Bowdoin will require COVID-19 vaccinations for the fall, a first among Maine colleges
pressherald.com/2021/04/16/bowdoin-will-require-covid-19-vaccinations-for-the-fall/
By Rachel Ohm April 16, 2021
Bowdoin College in Brunswick will require all staff and students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the fall semester, the first Maine college or university to take a step that is becoming increasingly common across the country.
“In order to ensure that our campus is as safe as possible for all of us and for our neighbors, we will require all members of the campus community to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19,” Bowdoin President Clayton Rose
wrote in a letter to the community Friday.
Proof of vaccination will be required by Aug. 13 for students and Aug. 24 for faculty and staff. Exemptions will be granted for medical reasons for students and for legitimate medical or religious reasons for employees.
The announcement represents a change from Bowdoin’s earlier position
of expecting but not requiring vaccinations and comes as a growing number of colleges and universities nationwide are requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for the fall.
In Friday’s letter, Rose said there are a number of benefits to requiring the vaccine, including creating a safer campus environment by avoiding COVID-19 outbreaks; mitigating some of the mental health impacts of pandemic student isolation; alleviating anxiety and discomfort for faculty and students who are fearful of the virus; and reducing the foreseeable impact of local COVID-19 community spread.
“I know that at the moment it can be challenging for faculty and staff to schedule a vaccination appointment,” Rose wrote. “We have a number of months before the new academic year begins and there is every indication that the process will get easier in the weeks ahead as more vaccines are made available in Maine and across the country. These vaccinations are essential for returning to normal, allowing us to protect ourselves and one another.”
Several colleges and universities in Maine said late last month they would strongly encourage students and staff to get vaccinated but had no plans to require vaccines. The University of Maine System, which enrolls about 25,000 students,
is not currently requiring vaccines because they are still in emergency use authorization.
“The University of Maine System and our Vaccination Planning and Partnership Task Force are constantly monitoring developments with the vaccines currently in use under the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization approval process,” system spokesman Dan Demeritt said in an email Friday. “We are encouraging but not requiring vaccination at this time.
“The fall semester is more than four months away and the System has not yet established vaccination requirements for when classes resume. We have launched the ‘This is our shot, Maine’ campaign featuring university and student leaders to encourage vaccination as the smart, safe step everyone should take to protect themselves, their families, and our community.”
The Maine Community College System has said it will require vaccination only for students who live on campus. That’s fewer than 1,000 of the system’s more than 15,000 students.
Although Bowdoin is the first Maine school to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all students, a growing number of colleges and universities across the country have announced plans to require them, including Duke University, Rutgers University in New Jersey, Brown, Cornell, Northeastern and the University of Notre Dame. More could join them.
From a legal perspective, the consensus seems to be that there is no reason colleges cannot impose requirements. Many already do for established vaccines, such as MMR, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
The one caveat, though, is that the COVID-19 vaccines have been granted emergency use authorization, not full approval, by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Harvard Law professor Glenn Cohen, however, told the Associated Press that colleges already are requiring student to take COVID-19 test that were approved under the same emergency authorization.
In general, private colleges have more leeway to impose restrictions. Public universities may have the same authority but it can depend on state statutes.
An issue brief from the American Council on Education, which represents colleges, says, “the legal right of institutions to require COVID-19 vaccination for students seems likely to be upheld as vaccine availability increases,” but also suggests alternatives to mandates. They include: offering incentives and continuing to make online learning options available for those who refuse to get a shot.
