RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — More than 95% of Virginia Commonwealth University’s students are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The students at VCU have been required to get their vaccine since July 2021.
Now, the university is ending their vaccine mandate. This comes after Attorney General Jason Miyares issued a legal opinion last week saying that higher education facilities “may not require vaccination against COVID-19 as a general condition of students’ enrollment or in-person attendance.”
In an announcement on Monday, VCU attributed their decision to the legal opinion as well as a high vaccination rate and ongoing mitigation efforts.
Students will no longer need to report that they’ve received their booster shot by tomorrow.
VCU said they will continue requiring masks while indoors or at outdoor events with more than 50 people. Students are encouraged to use KN95 masks or double layered masks. There are free COVID-19 supplies on the campus for students to use.
Some students studying various health care fields may still need to follow a vaccine requirement at the hospital, clinical setting or health care location they’ve been placed at .
A statement from VCU read, “With the concurrence of our Public Health Response Team, VCU continues to urge students and all other members of its community to be vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. Unvaccinated individuals are more likely to become infected and much more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than those who are vaccinated and boosted.”
