Seventy-six percent of University of Michigan students planning to attend classes on the Ann Arbor campus this fall have reported and are confirmed to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of July 20.
“This is an important and positive milestone as vaccination of our entire community is the best way to ensure a vibrant campus experience in the fall,” said Robert Ernst, associate vice president of student life and director of Campus COVID Response.
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As of July 20, nearly 35,075 student records have been verified as fully vaccinated.
Nearly 23,350 faculty and staff from the Ann Arbor campus and Michigan Medicine have self-reported as being fully vaccinated as of July 20.
All students, faculty and staff are asked to self-report their vaccination status through Wolverine Access as soon as possible.
University officials continue to monitor the important measure of vaccination among the university community, along with an assessment of the spread of COVID-19 in the local and regional communities, in order to make a decision regarding fall masking requirements in classes by July 31 as outlined in the COVID-19 Vaccination Metrics Guidance.
The vaccine metrics were established by the Campus Health Response Committee for adjusting COVID-19 mitigation strategies for fall.
At this time, masking in classes remains a requirement for all individuals regardless of vaccination status as outlined in the U-M face-covering policy.
Ken Varnum
According to Office of Budget and Planning (https://obp.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/pubdata/factsfigures/facstaff_umsystem.pdf), there were 49,569 employees on the Ann Arbor campuses (academic and medical) in 2020. So that means that the self-reported vaccination rate of faculty/staff is about 47%, below the 64% Washtenaw County average reported on https://campusblueprint.umich.edu/dashboard/ and the 58.8% reported for all of Michigan (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html).
I find that relatively low self-reported vaccination rate of faculty/staff concerning as we contemplate returning to campus for a “normal” fall semester.