Harvard Requires Students to Be Vaccinated for Fall

The University announced today that Harvard, like at least a couple of hundred other institutions of higher education (see The Chronicle of Higher Education’s list here), will require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to return to campus this fall.

President Lawrence S. Bacow, Provost Alan M. Garber, Executive Vice President Katie Lapp, and Giang T. Nguyen, executive director of Harvard University Health Services, wrote, “We hope to be able to offer a less restricted, robust on-campus experience for all our students this fall,” assuming rates of infection can be kept low. That will require continued regular coronavirus testing, with details on the regimen forthcoming.

Given the availability of vaccines, and accumulating evidence of their efficacy and safety, they wrote, “To reach the high levels of vaccination needed to protect our community, Harvard will require COVID vaccination for all students who will be on campus this fall. As with existing student requirements for other vaccines, exceptions will be provided only for medical or religious reasons. Students should plan to be fully vaccinated before returning to campus for the fall semester.” International students who cannot arrange for vaccination before the fall semester begins will be offered vaccination on arrival, but may be subjected to additional requirements, such as additional testing. Faculty and staff members, and researchers working on campus, are also expected to be vaccinated.