Incoming Pfizer fully vaccinated freshman uploaded her COVID vaccine card to her school portal yesterday.
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D21 got her 2nd Pfizer shot yesterday âyay!
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UChicagoâs statement that it is examining a vaccine mandate was made within the context of opening up the vaccine site to the campus community and dispensing advice for timing on the 2nd dose, etc. and not the two-week lockdown of undergraduates. No doubt they had been queried on the subject numerous times by that point. My guess is that there are several factors - health related and non - that we in the peanut gallery arenât considering but those in charge of implementing a âmandateâ are. After all, if it was obviously a good idea to impose a vaccine mandate on the university communities of UIUC, NU and UChicago it would have happened already. Best to wait and see what the decisions are and why.
Schools in Illinois are only just now mandating the vaccine. The news only came down in the past few days. With that, more national known huge public universities have also mandated the vaccine, so itâs not really a âit would have happened alreadyâ kind of thing as this is very fluid. Stanford, UCâs and Cal State Universities all announced this week. Loyola Chicago announced after Depaul and Columbia College announced, more Ivy Leagues announced this week, while Cornell announced weeks ago right after Rutgers. University of Michigan announced yesterday. There is a whole process involved with larger schools as well. Ultimately they will announce some sort of decision one way or the other and they have months to still decide if they want to mandate it, to whom they want to mandate it for and by when they want to mandate it by. Both Northwestern and UC also are on quarter systems and start later than some of the other schools so they can actually take a little bit of time to decide while other schools canât take as long since students would need to show proof by July or so in most cases.
I wasnât equating the mandate or vaccine site with UC in any way with what you suggested, my comment was in respect to the fact that they had to lockdown the campus due to an outbreak of covid cases there and that will ultimately be something they take into consideration when they decide whether to mandate or not.
UIUC has yet to say anything one way or the other.
we know there are certain schools in some states that will not do one thing to require the vaccine for residential housing. Period.
There are 3000+ colleges in the US. Only a few schools as a percentage of all US schools are requiring it; mostly private, expensive and elite. Itâs not just âcertain schools in some statesâ who arenât requiring it â itâs thousands of schools all over as of now.
I realize this list isnât complete and will change, itâs not official, itâs on a blog, etc. But I think the vast majority wonât require it.
https://www.bestcolleges.com/blog/list-of-colleges-that-require-covid-19-vaccine/
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You clearly missed the sarcasm in my statement. Meaning that there are some states/schools that based on where they are will never mandate it!
Oh and btw, less than 2 weeks ago Loyola Chicago said they had no intention of mandating it, and then this week they did. So as I said previously, it is a very fluid situation and many many more schools will be mandating it, especially in large cities. There is legal precedent for a mandate and it will have full FDA authorization most likely before school starts in the fall as well. Schools already mandate many vaccines so this just adds to that list.
Yes they did - quickly on the heels of the Phase 2 announcement for the city of Chicago. They must feel that everyone has access to the vaccine and that a mandate is the right thing to do. As UChicago did NOT make a similar announcement, they must not (yet) be satisfied on at least one of those two facets.
Fluidity might vary due to timing of vaccine availability, state health requirements, executive orders or state laws. Not clear that other universities in other states are an example of what universities in IL should do. Certain groups such as athletes may be an exception, as conference play is multi-state.
Agree in principle (UChicago is supposed to have a September term this coming fall but thatâs optional). But what would be the hold-up, in your view? Wouldnât giving families the heads-up be the proper course of action as early as possible?
Student compliance to current Covid guidelines is important, but itâs not really what drives the decision to mandate a vaccine. Itâs the goal to open in full, at full capacity and return to ânormalâ that drives that decision. UChicago already announced its intention to return to normal. And yet they havenât announced a mandate for the vaccine (yet). Again, Iâm concluding that at least one of the following - everyone has access to the vaccine and that a mandate is the right thing to do - is not to their satisfaction at this time. Of course, as you point out, itâs still early and the situation is fluid.
That wouldnât be the first time a school reversed course in an embarrassing way during this pandemic. LOL.
Can you please link that here?
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The reason the (relatively short) lockdown worked in NZ is that there has also been very strict border control (citizens and permanent residents only, plus a few essential workers) and anyone coming in to the country has been escorted off the plane to strict quarantine hotels for 14 days where they are tested 3 times during the 14 days. This has meant no COVID in the community except for a few âleakagesâ have occurred when staff working at the border or in the quarantine hotels have caught COVID. Each time with rigorous contact tracing and some short localised lockdowns the outbreak has been contained. Itâs definitely been worth it (life is normal here and the economy is also pretty good as everyone is going to work and eating out, shopping, living their lives as normal etc but itâs been a massive effort and has hit some individuals and families hard as not everyone who wants to come to New Zealand can and it can be hard to get a booking for the quarantine hotels (and these cost unless you are a citizen or permanent resident returning for good)
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This is a well known Supreme Court case about mandated vaccines. The legal argument today âagainstâ mandated the covid vaccine would be that itâs only approved at this time for Emergency Use Authorization, however, a private entity can do anything they wish and a vaccine that is approved for emergency use authorization is not at all the same as one that only has experimental use which is where a lot of people often seem confused on this issue. Additionally, the FDA only needs about 6 months of data to review whether or not to grant full approval on the vaccine so even if there are lawsuits that arise based on anyone trying to argue that a school, business, cruise ship, or other entity canât mandate the vaccine because itâs only approved at this time for emergency use, by the time it winds itâs way through the courts the mandate will be in effect and the vaccine will have full approval. There are many other similar articles all leading back to the same Supreme Court decision.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/04/01/vaccine-supreme-court-smallpox-covid/
I donât view Loyolaâs decision to now mandate the vaccine at all an embarrassing one. They just didnât have the guts to mandate it here first unlike DePaul and Columbia, so good for them that they did. Every week more and more schools will be coming out for the mandate and this is all great news.
It was only just this week that President Biden required that everyone be eligible to receive the mandate. While everyone is eligible for the vaccine here, access is still not as easy as we would like it to be. Appointments are still hard to get for some people and access is an issue for people who are immobile or in certain neighborhoods. Some areas the demand is so high that people have to wait weeks to get a vaccine while further south in the state there is no demand. I donât think any school is basing a decision on a vaccine mandate on accessibility of the vaccine when everyone knew it was going to be available to everyone well before August. My daughterâs school mandated it well before students were eligible to receive it and the school themselves only offered it for the first time this week, while my other daughterâs school which there is no way in hell they would mandate it, students have been able to get it since early January (I remember because she hadnât even returned from winter break yet and students were already getting it) since there are so many anti vaxxers there.
I donât view there being any hold up really other than this is all brand new and each day there are more and more schools mandating it. It was only March 25 that Rutgers mandated the vaccine and it took until April 5 before the next two schools (Cornell and Nova Southeastern in FL) announced it. Nova is now looking at their legal options since DeSantis signed an EO banning any school from mandating the vaccine if they receive public monies. So here we are not even 3 weeks after that April 5 date and dozens more schools have now mandated it with Iâm sure many more coming. September is more than 4 months away, it doesnât take 4 months to get a vaccination so when a school is ready to announce theyâll be ready to announce. I donât view the urgency at this point for any school. Itâs no different than last year when everyone was pushing schools to announce they would be open so many did and then they all pretty much had to close anyway.
Michiganâs vaccine mandate was weeks in the making and only announced yesterday. It had to go to through a lot of hoops and go through different protocols of the university. No doubt many schools will be dealing with this. Hopefully they wonât wait until the midnight hour, but for some it could be as simple as waiting to see when there is full FDA approval before mandating it since that is expected to be in the next few months.
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News from the Williams Record regarding college requiring vaccines:
College to require students to get vaccinated before fall semester â The Williams Record
My very poor legal background leads me to conclude that the meningitis vaccine mandate is enough to justify a similar one for Covid - if mandated by the state. The article you link contains an opinion - and one that requires a few dots to connect in order to link it to a university mandate regarding the Covid vaccine. Clearly public good laws and mandates have been upheld by the courts, but thatâs not the same thing as saying that your employer or your university requires you to be vaccinated before you can return to campus. Thatâs why universities are unsurprisingly examining both the legal and the health aspects of such a mandate.
I am not familiar with the arguments against the vaccine; however, full FDA approval should hopefully take care of much of the personal concern, as you point out, and the UC systemâs own mandate is a proposal at this stage because it depends notably on such an approval happening before September. As for private entities, doing âanything they wishâ isnât quite correct - I mean they can, of course, and they can also be found liable for undue dismissal without reasonable accommodation and ordered to make restitution. Most private entities would love to avoid such a mess. Thatâs why, IMO, itâs wiser for universities to wait for the state Dept. of Health to make the mandate because then the matter falls under the area of âpublic good.â States have more power than private entities to order people around for the public good.
Yes, your viewpoint is pretty clear! Anytime a person or an institution makes strident declarations one week, and then reverses the following week with the opposite, they make themselves look foolish. THAT is the embarrassment. Whether they had âgutsâ either way is likely unknown. I donât think major universities are striking out a new and innovative path by mandating the vaccine lol. Seems to be an increasingly popular option. The large majority of the top 30 (USNews ranking) have already mandated it; those that havenât so far seem to have issues with vaccine availability in their area.
Um, the president can make no such requirement. He can urge, encourage, and make the supplies available so that states can meet those goals.
I assume you live in IL due to your interest in those universities. My D in Chicago was able to be vaccinated earlier this month - before becoming eligible - by traveling to Englewood (also on the South Side) where it was either find an arm or toss the vaccine. Many UChicago students did the same. So itâs not just downstate that the demand is low. On the other hand, a Chicago relative just informed me that she knew people who had to go to Quincy for their vaccinations. Thatâs odd to me, since the state of IN isnât checking residency and the border is closer than Quincy! - but maybe things have changed just in the last week or two.
I disagree. I see major correlations between lack of access and lack of issuing a mandate at this time. Example: MIT, Harvard and Tufts in Boston. NU and UChicago in Cook County. UChicago takes its dates from the Chicago Dept. of Public Health; until very recently the date for general eligibility was May 29 which basically precluded vaccinating anyone leaving campus for the summer, including international students who might depend on campus clinics for their vaccine. Even now, the university has notified students that not all will be able to receive the vaccine on campus this spring. They are encouraged to shoot for outside sources if able to. Some will be able to do that, and some wonât. My son is a perfect example of someone who will likely have to wait till September unless heâs lucky enough for his name to come up for a campus appointment (notification is randomized). He leaves campus to work in another state (not his home state) in early June. So the irony is that when heâs available, the vaccine wonât be. And vice versa.
Thatâs just for housing which isnât required (correct?). That seems like a reasonable mandate for a university to make from a public health standpoint and should pass legal muster. It still allows choices because you can live off-campus. Unless Iâm mistaken, you arenât excluded from class or campus if you arenât vaccinated. Please correct if Iâm mistaken.
I agree that FDA approval might help as well but not sure thatâs quite enough. But again, Iâm no expert.
COVID-19 vaccine to be required for students choosing to live on campus | University of Michigan News describes the policy.
Before COVID-19, about 97% of frosh and 31% of all undergraduates at University of Michigan lived on campus.
Correct 31% of all undergrads live on campus. Itâs also said that the vaccine may also be required for more than just those in dorms but for in person attendance at larger lecture classes, sporting events, etc. Students who are already vaccinated can upload proof now.
@ucbalumnus still, itâs distinguished from a university which requires both the vaccine and on-campus housing. I am curious to know how much thought has gone into making both mandates, for those universities that have done so. Agree with srparent that many announced only recently as general eligibility became available. Still, the flagship in my own state (neither being one of those âno way in hellâ locales that srparent seems to be familiar with) hasnât made any sort of mandate either. And this is with with 40,000-person undergraduate program located in an urban environment in a state that has had general eligibility since the end of March. I believe it could be another one of those âwould have happened alreadyâ situations. That doesnât exclude the possibility that they are still working out the legal aspects or what a mandate would look like.
Actually, the article states clearly that "This is not a mandate to be vaccinated, but rather a choice to live in communal living and therefore make the choice to get vaccinated.â It may be required for other things? Havenât read that. Everything is voluntary at this point, including sharing protected health information 
The âarticleâ references the legal opinion so all you need to do is look it up. Itâs not about the article itâs about the legal ruling from 1905. The vaccine does not need to be mandated by the state for a private entity to mandate it. The reason why a private entity can do what they want with regards to the vaccine is because they are not receiving public funds, so yes, they can do what they want. This is why cruise ships can mandate the vaccine the Dodgers were able to mandate it today to sit in certain areas, concerts will require it, etc. Itâs no different than why a private business can mandate mask wearing. Donât worry about not having a good legal background one of my best friends is an FDA attorney and my husband is a UC educated one.
Schools including public schools can mandate the vaccine and donât need to allow students on campus even those with religious or medical exemptions as long as they can provide accommodations. And well, while many may not like it, we now have remote capabilities for classes so if a school chooses they can actually refuse to allow a student on campus without the vaccine and accommodate them that way. When Rutgers made their decisions to mandate the vaccine this was one of the discussions. I donât think they will be doing this but it is in their purview to do so.
Yes, Iâm aware where Englewood is and yes many people can more easily get in there if theyâre willing to take that risk of going there, many are not however and would rather travel to Joliet or Champaign or somewhere else. Until a few weeks ago Indiana was checking residency. Also there is still substantial demand in the better areas here and the areas in Indiana that people have to to get the vaccine are not the best. Also many want JNJ one and done so they look for the larger locations that are giving that. Things slowed down over the past 10 days while thatâs had to sit on the shelf but will possibly pick up again for those that are good with getting a one and done.
Not sure why your son hasnât been able to get vaccinated. He does not need to do it through U-Chicago. He can just as easily go to a Marianos, CVS, Walgreens, Jewel, etc. If someone really wants to find a vaccine they can find one. Iâm taking my 18 year old tomorrow for his second dose. I had no problem finding one and in Illinois you donât need to be a resident of the county that you get vaccinated in. I had mine in Cook, I donât live in Cook. My son had his first in McHenry we donât live in McHenry. People just need to know how to look and not wait around for it to come to them. With your son being here until June, he can easily get it now and then again before he leaves. I would 100% not wait it out if I didnât need to. Your son should definitely not wait. They are also doing walk up clinics here now as well in the city. So that is yet another option for him.
For Michigan most freshmen live on campus so that is a minimum of 31% of all students. Then when you factor in those that have already been vaccinated which is in the thousands already plus those who will continue to as they are starting to vaccinate a lot more at UM now the numbers will significantly increase. Additionally, there will probably be a requirement to be vaccinated for larger classes, sporting events, get into certain buildings certain types of social gatherings etc so the incentive is there. Social responsibility. Itâs much better than my 3rd college kidâs school that is opening fully with no mandate. Just happy sheâs been vaccinated since late January and is generally careful.
I wasnât talking about that article. Iâm talking about what is going on at Michigan directly not some random article that I didnât post or read that youâre talking about.
I have a student there and there have been emails sent to the students by the admin about the policies. So not talking about whatever article youâre referring to. Michigan as I mentioned previously has been discussing this for weeks, but there is a protocol they have to go through.
The article was posted by the VP of Communications at the University of Michigan and clearly states that it applies only to residence halls and other university housing. It makes no mention of additional mandates, either in the pipeline or other.
So you have maintained. Sporting events and social gatherings are not needed in order to earn your degree. The university would have authority to regulate those as needed for health reasons. Larger classes and certain buildings might be another story. So it would be no surprise that Univ. of MI is adhering to protocols. I wonder how many other universities have been as careful.
The article refers to Jacobson v. Massachusetts where the conclusion is as follows: :âIt is within the police power of a State to enact a compulsory vaccination law, and it is for the legislature, and not for the courts, to determine.â
The finding: âThe liberty secured by the Constitution of the United States does not import an absolute right in each person to be at all times, and in all circumstances, wholly freed from restraint, nor is it an element in such liberty that one person, or a minority of persons residing in any community and enjoying the benefits of its local government, should have power to dominate the majority when supported in their action by the authority of the State.â
This would have nothing to do with a private university or a business since itâs a finding between an individual and the authority of the State. Since your husband and best friend are both attorneys, perhaps you can ask them for a history of subsequent court rulings that have indeed relied on Jacobson v. MA to justify the actions of private entities?
This is not correct - private entities receive public funds! Pell monies and other federal need based aid, federal research grants . . .and letâs not forget about the CARES Act! But public funds have nothing to do with this particular issue.
There is a difference. Had you paid for your cruise or for your Dodgers tix and shown up to take your room or seat, only to find out that they had just implemented a vaccine mandate, youâd need to be reimbursed or you will have a case of bad faith. Not that the vaccine is bad - but they are switching the rules in a way that make it difficult for you to comply and not providing reasonable accommodation. However, if you havenât yet booked your cruise or purchased your tickets and find when attempting to do so that they require the vaccine - well, they have that right (and itâs mighty smart of them to require it).
Of course, being in the middle of earning your degree isnât quite the same as booking a leisure trip or watching a ball game on a free afternoon. There are clear and carefully well-articulated rules for matriculating and earning the degree. If one has complied with and satisified those rules, itâs not clear to me that the university has legal standing to switch those rules without a compelling reason. While âpublic goodâ is indeed a compelling reason, thatâs the proper domain of the state itself. A university can always defer to the state, of course. But can a university act independently of the state in this specific matter? Itâs a question.
This is correct and remote learning would more than likely be considered a âreasonable accommodationâ in a court of law. If schools mandating the vaccine make remote learning available, then that might indeed resolve the issue. Choices are good.
In other words, people in âbetter areasâ of Chicagoland are choosing to complain about not enough vaccine in their area instead of venturing into other parts of the city. Wow.
Unlike your sonâs mom, mine doesnât live in IL to drive him up to Woodstock or Huntley or Crystal Lake (or Quincy or IN, for that matter!) for a vaccine. Nor does he have a car himself. Since he lives in Chicago he was only eligible this past week and I believe the closest off site pharmacies offer Moderna (on-campus is Pfizer). He has a very small window to take care of this with significant demands on his time that will impact him long after the year of Covid LOL. Fortunately, heâs a big boy and able to make his own healthcare decisions. If thereâs a mandate heâll have plenty of time in September. Iâm not really worried about my son needing to get vaccinated - heâs about as low-risk an individual as you can meet. I just used him as an example as to why UChicago might not be mandating the vaccine at this point. The timing is very poor (although significantly better than what the city originally announced).