35% Of US Students Claim Their University Requires COVID-19 Vaccines, 39% Say Their Institution Does Not Apply This Policy

35 percent of university students in the United States said that the institution where they study has introduced COVID-19 vaccine mandates, whereas 39 percent said that their institution does not require them to be vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the COVID States Project conducted by Northeastern, Harvard, Rutgers and Northwestern universities.

Data has revealed that 26 percent of university students are not vaccinated against COVID-19, while 74 percent have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, Erudera.com reports. 

33 percent of surveyed students at public institutions said that their university required them to be vaccinated, while 45 of students at private institutions also pointed out that they had to be vaccinated to comply with their institution’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Furthermore, 42 percent of students studying at a public institution said that their university had not imposed a vaccine mandate for students compared to 32 percent of students at a private institution.

At the same time, 36 percent of students at public universities said that staff and faculty at their institution are also required to be vaccinated compared to 49 percent of students at private institutions highlighting the same.

67 percent of surveyed students at a public institution said that their university has a mask mandate for in-person classes; 15 percent disagreed with the statement, while 18 percent were not informed about a vaccine mandate at their university.

Meanwhile, at a private institution, 70 percent of students said that there is a COVID-19 vaccine requirement at their university, 13 percent said their university does not have a vaccine mandate, and 17 percent said they don’t know if there is such a requirement.

“This suggests schools are not doing a great job communicating their policies and ensuring they are understood,” the professor of political science and associate director of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern, James Druckman, told the university’s news service.

Overall, the report indicates that smaller institutions were less likely to introduce COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and students at these institutions were least likely to say whether their university required student vaccines; 30 percent of students said so, 36 percent highlighted faculty and staff vaccines while 57 percent face-coverings,  compared to students enrolled at larger institutions.  

“At the other end of the spectrum, 40% of surveyed college students at institutions with over 10,000 students said that their university requires student vaccination, while 49% of students at institutions with 10,000 to 20,000 students said their university requires faculty/staff vaccination,” the report reads.

More than 1,000 higher education institutions in the United States have implemented COVID-19 vaccine mandates to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19. Most students have adhered to the mandates; however, some universities had to disenroll students who failed to show proof of vaccination despite the university’s vaccine requirement.

According to data, 67 percent of Americans at the age of 18 or 24 have received at least one vaccine.

In addition to the United States, universities and colleges worldwide have also imposed COVID-19 requirements for students, staff, faculty, and other members or visitors.