Colleges in the 2021-2022 Academic Year & Coronavirus (Part 2)

isnt enrollment soon for returning students. Not everyone can get a vaccine yet.

It appears that there is a common expectation that vaccine availability (not just eligibility) for all typical college age people in the US will be reached by or before early fall semester (August / September).

Of course, if that does not happen, a college where students arrive unvaccinated due to unavailability and which itself does not have a supply to vaccinate those students may be forced to change plans.

the difference is the meningitis vaccine went through years of testing and FDA approved

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In 2013, the Novartis Bexsero vaccine against meningitis B was given emergency use authorization to give to students in response to outbreaks on college campuses. It had been approved in Europe and Australia earlier the same year.

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yes, by fall, but my question was, dont current students at Duke register for classes in April? "We plan to require all new and returning Duke students to present proof of vaccination to Student Health before they can enroll for the Fall 2021 semester. "

interesting but the key difference is: they worked on the vaccine for 20 years

Scientists have been working for two decades to make a vaccine to protect against the B strain, but itā€™s been challenging. There are many types of B bacteria that cause illness and itā€™s tough to produce a universal vaccine that would cover strains circulating in different parts of the world.

I read it to mean ā€œbefore they can come to campusā€.

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Duke will begin registration for fall semester until July 7.

Duke plans to vaccinate all of their current students over the next few weeks ā€“ starting April 1.

COVID-19 vaccines got a head start from the unfinished work on the vaccines for the related SARS (from 2003) and MERS (from 2012). So it has been almost two decades since work started on coronavirus vaccines (although there were some years when people and those funding vaccine research lost interest, so the work was put on hold).
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03626-1

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If you donā€™t want to get the vaccine then donā€™t go to school. The schools have the right, and maybe even the duty, to protect the students in the best way possible and right now, thatā€™s requiring a vaccination. No one has the right to go to the state flagship or a private school. The school gets to set the requirements, they arenā€™t discriminating against anyone (everyone required to get the same vaccines), and they are following ā€˜best practices.ā€™

We have a bar in town that isnā€™t letting anyone in without a vaccine card. Private business, their rules. Some sports venues are requiring negative tests or vaccine cards. Hawaii does.

If you donā€™t want a vaccine, stay home.

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Duke is now providing vaccinations now to any current student who wants one and is encouraging current students to get them before the semester ends. So while new students will have get them elsewhere, current students should be covered if they make their appointments.

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Bowdoin too. S19ā€™s first dose is this week. Iā€™m very hopeful for fall. I donā€™t really see a way that things donā€™t go back to normal or very close to it. Meanwhile, we got an email from U Richmond saying ā€œcollege this fall may not be fully back to normalā€. Bizarre. Another reason that D took it off her list last week.

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Weā€™ve had people being vaccinated for 4 months and still havenā€™t returned to maskless, full public contact life. Even in hospital areas where everyone is vaccinated (like a lab), they are still following all covid protocols. I think masks and spacing 6ā€™ apart are here for another year or more. I donā€™t see colleges reopening rec centers and cafeterias to pre-covid levels for a year or so. I expect schools will have classes and events but they wonā€™t look exactly like they did in 2019.

Rice has been able to vaccinate all students, faculty and staff who wanted to be vaccinated. Many (like my daughter) are fully vaccinated but some just received their first doses this week. But it should be wrapped up by the end of the semester. Rumor is they wonā€™t announce a decision about vaccination requirements until May but they have announced all classes will be back to face to face. Professors have been told if they were face to face before covid they need to be face to face now. They have been offered some flexibility to use more technology (such as flipped classrooms) provided they get approval AND still offer the same face to face time to students. The only adjustment seems to be moving some of the larger classes to different spaces if needed, but honestly the school has very few large classes. They are not limiting capacity in housing, have kids living in the empty dorm they were using for quarantine housing this year, and the schedule for their orientation week for freshman looks like it did pre-pandemic.

This weekend they are holding a spring tradition called ā€œBeer Bikeā€. It looks a lot different from previous years but my D is just thrilled to have SOME sense of normalcy.

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CDC has already changed distancing guideline for schools to 3 ft, from 6 ft. It is believed CDC will change this for all situations sooner rather than later.

One thing people should also look at when considering schools for the fall is whether they will offer a fully remote option. Many schools have announced they will not, including the NESCAC school my D attends.

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Why do you think that? At what point so we not wear masks and space out from each other? If all are vaccinated on a campus, I see zero reason for Covid protocols.

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Yes, weā€™ve been vaccinating for four months but three of those were slow going. The CDC hasnā€™t changed recommendations on mask wearing yet but Iā€™m betting it will. We are still in the stage of getting vaccinations out into arms. Guidance is that you can take your mask off if you are only with other fully vaccinated people.

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My sister works in an office in a hospital. She says that they donā€™t wear masks when it is just staff because everyone is vaccinated. They do mask up when a patient comes in.

I think we will be abandoning masks much sooner than you think because people just wonā€™t do it anymore. I am already seeing a decline in masks in public.

Iā€™m unsure about classrooms in the fall. Maybe they will require masks but Iā€™m not convinced. I think all gyms, etc will be open and back to full capacity.

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William and Mary wonā€™t require the vaccine while itā€™s under an EUA. This may change with full authorization.

Vaccine Requirements
Because the current COVID-19 vaccines are being distributed under an Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA, they are not currently required of any faculty, staff or students. However, in the future, when the vaccines are approved beyond emergency use, they may be included among the other vaccinations the Commonwealth requires of students who attend W&M or for employees. W&M will continue working with state officials on those determinations as more information becomes available.

https://www.wm.edu/sites/pathforward/health/vaccinations/index.php

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I wonder if this is a Virginia thing and thatā€™s why U Richmond wasnā€™t clearly stating that fall will be much more back to normal.