Local colleges this past summer made it clear that nearly all students – and employees in some cases – needed to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus.
Despite new cases of COVID-19 again rising in Rhode Island and across the nation, the schools for now are taking a wait-and-see attitude on whether to mandate booster shots before students and faculty return in January for the next semester.
Nine schools recently reached by Providence Business News all said they are strongly encouraging students, faculty and staff to get booster shots. And some acknowledged they are considering mandates.
The University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College, the Community College of Rhode Island, Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island School of Design, New England Institute of Technology, Bryant University, Providence College and Brown University all told PBN they are following recommendations set by both the R.I. Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Both the CDC and state health officials have announced that individuals who are 18 years and older and fully vaccinated are eligible for booster shots.
If a college kid isn’t smart enough to get vaxed, they shouldn’t even be a college student, since the education is obviously being wasted on them.
College staffs should all be vaxed. College students are their customers and, as such, they have an obligation to treat the kids with respect. Giving a kid Covid isn’t treating that kid with respect.