University of Michigan students who choose to live on the Ann Arbor campus during the fall term will be required to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19.
The new requirement, which provides for exemptions and applies only to students who will live in residence halls and other university housing, was announced April 23 by Vice President for Student Life Martino Harmon during the university’s weekly COVID-19 briefing.
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All students, faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated, and the university has ongoing vaccination clinics where all can get free vaccinations quickly and easily on the Ann Arbor campus or nearby. To date, Michigan Medicine has administered more than 108,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses, more than the capacity of a packed Michigan Stadium.
Students are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose of a two-dose vaccine series, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine. Students who will live on campus in the fall will need to show proof of their vaccination by July 15.
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UM-Dearborn announced April 23 that, beginning Sept. 1, all students, faculty and staff who come to campus for any reason must provide either proof of vaccination or a weekly negative COVID-19 test result. UM-Flint has not yet announced its policy for testing or vaccination this fall.
“We know that widespread vaccination will be the only way to facilitate a return to normal and robust campus life. And we would like to provide a living environment for students this coming fall that is as close to the fall of 2019, pre-COVID-19, as possible,” Harmon said. “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.”
F. DuBois Bowman, dean of the School of Public Health, said he “strongly supports a vaccine requirement for students living in residence halls.”
“Congregate living settings, like residence halls, are at high risk for spread of illness, especially with B.1.1.7 and other variants that spread more easily. Vaccination is a key prevention tool to be used in this space, and beyond, to reduce the spread of COVID-19,” he said.
The university recently asked all students to voluntarily share their vaccination information by completing the self-report tool on Wolverine Access and uploading an image of their COVID-19 vaccination card or the appropriate documentation from a medical professional confirming vaccination.
The information will be used by campus officials to make public health-guided decisions in relation to student experiences on campus and within the residence halls. It also will aid in granting exemptions from weekly testing and quarantine requirements.
For example, fully vaccinated students who remain symptom-free will not be required to quarantine following a close-contact exposure to COVID-19, which follows guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Likewise, vaccinated students will only need to be tested for COVID-19 if they display symptoms.
Students must provide proof of their vaccination or an approved exemption by July 15 to be permitted to move into their assigned room. Michigan Housing will share additional details directly with students in the coming weeks.
“We strongly encourage all students to get vaccinated because we know the vaccines are highly effective and extremely safe,” said Robert Ernst, associate vice president of student life for health and wellness, executive director of University Health Service, and assistant professor of internal medicine.
“While young people are less likely to die or be hospitalized from COVID-19, they can still catch coronavirus and transmit it to others. Community immunity can only be achieved if a high percentage of our campus community is vaccinated.”
With expanded eligibility, state health officials have shifted focus to vaccinating young adults age 16 and older against COVID-19. In support of those efforts, U-M recently partnered with Kroger and Meijer to offer more than 4,100 appointments to the U-M community to receive their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. As of April 22, more than 2,794 U-M students have voluntarily shared their validated COVID-19 vaccination records with the university.
At U-M, 31 percent of the student population lives in university-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing. Michigan Housing normally houses approximately 9,700 undergraduate students in the residence halls, and another 2,400 graduate students at Northwood apartments, Munger Graduate Residences and the Lawyers Club, for a total of approximately 12,100 on-campus residents.
Since March 2020, Michigan Housing and Michigan Dining have been operating at a much smaller scale due to the pandemic. In the fall, the university residence halls are expected to operate at about 80 percent of capacity with expanded use of shared spaces and other activities.
The university will continue to reserve 450 rooms on North Campus for use as quarantine and isolation housing.
Earlier this week, Michigan Medicine invited all patients age 16 and older, who live in Michigan and have not already been vaccinated for COVID-19, to receive a vaccine.
The influx of vaccine supply enabled Michigan Medicine to offer first dose walk-in vaccination appointments from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 23 at Michigan Stadium. Individuals must present a Michigan Medicine medical record number for the walk-in clinic. Walk-ins are not available for second-dose appointments.
Christopher Dawson
Where can we find a form for philosophical/religious exemption?
Bri Ott
What gives U of M the right to mandate a vaccine for entry? What about those who can’t get the vaccine?Is this mandate required for staff to return to work as well? What about HIPPA laws? Are students signing a HIPPA form when they provide their vaccine card?
David Blair
Good luck on the mandatory covid injection.
U of M does business across state lines which places the university’s activities under the interstate commerce clause. Pretty much takes care of any mandatory “anything” while doing business.
Religious exemption, no problem with that also.
The covid injection is not a “vaccine ” as it does not allow the individuals immune system to naturally manufacture the defensive antibodies and long term Tcell memory.
These covid injections modify the individuals RNA cell messaging artificially through a gene therapeutic process. Personally this is playing God, which I have a moral issue with.
Just a side note, I did not see any policy regarding individuals that have had this coronavirus and recovered.
David Blair
For those of you looking for frontline information from doctors in the field around the world please read this…..
FLCCC.net
Kari Dumbeck
This goes against the Nuremberg Code and is a violation of the students and staff rights. These drugs are experimental until August of 2023 I believe, and therefore, cannot be forced on anyone. Nor do you have the right to know if someone tested or not as that is a violation of personal health rights as well. I would not be surprised if enrollment dropped big time and law suits go up.
Kristina Countryman
@ David Blair:
https://covid19criticalcare.com/about/disclaimer/
“Status of Recommendations
The Ivermectin/Mask+ Protocol has been developed by experienced physicians treating hospitalized COVID-19 patents; at this time, it has not been adopted as a medical consensus. While clinical experience and research to-date is promising, these products have not been proven to be safe and effective by prospective, randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled studies acceptable to US medical associations and regulatory bodies. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved Ivermectin or the Mask+ protocol for COVID-19 and such use is considered “off-label.” Based on increasing evidence, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently upgraded its Ivermectin recommendation from “do not use” to “neither for nor against,” the same as for monoclonal antibodies and convalescent plasma. No treatment, however, including Ivermectin or the Mask+ Protocol, has been accepted by our public health system as proven to prevent, mitigate or treat COVID-19.
Opinion
This site represents FLCCC’s effort to provide educational material, which reflects the judgment of its professional staff; this is not a peer-reviewed journal, a sponsored publication, or the product of gatekeeping and editing beyond those of the FLCCC organization. As with the rest of this Website, users should not rely upon any information presented in the blog without using common sense and the assistance of your licensed health care practitioners.”
Kay Wilson
I think it is important to read and acknowledge the information provided by the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) Fact Sheets before considering the vaccine. Among the important facts provided by these official documents are the following:
WHAT IS THE JANSSEN COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine is an unapproved vaccine that may prevent COVID-19. There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19.
WHAT IS THE MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is an unapproved vaccine that may prevent COVID-19. There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19.
WHAT IS THE PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE?
The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is an unapproved vaccine that may prevent COVID-19. There is no FDA-approved vaccine to prevent COVID-19.2 Revised: 06 April 2021 The FDA has authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to prevent COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older under an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA).
These drugs are unapproved by the FDA and are therefore still experimental. Though I recognize the mass ‘vaccination’ campaign is not a clinical trial, for ethical reasons, are people being asked to sign an informed consent prior to receiving their injections?