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U. of
Michigan
to
require
vaccinations
to live
on
campus
By
DAVID
EGGERT
apnews.com
ANN
ARBOR,
Mich. -
The
University
of
Michigan
will
require
COVID-19
vaccinations
for
students
who live
on its
Ann
Arbor
campus
this
fall,
school
officials
announced
Friday.
President
Mark
Schlissel
said
shots
will not
be
mandated
for
faculty,
staff
and
other
students
“at this
time,”
but he
strongly
encouraged
everyone
to get
vaccinated.
The
requirement
will
allow
residence
halls to
operate
safely
at
nearly
normal
capacity,
he said,
after
there
were
more
than 600
infections
in dorms
last
fall
despite
a mask
requirement
and
other
restrictions.
In
the
weeks
ahead,
the
university
will
start to
excuse
vaccinated
students
from
mandatory
coronavirus
testing.
Those
who are
vaccinated
will not
have to
self-quarantine
after
being
exposed
to
someone
with the
virus,
as long
as those
vaccinated
students
don’t
have
symptoms.
About
9,700,
or 31%,
of
undergraduate
students
typically
live on
campus.
So do
2,400
graduate
students.
“In
order
for a
campus
to fully
recover
from the
effects
of the
pandemic,
we need
everyone
who can
be to be
vaccinated,”
Schlissel
said in
a Zoom
update
to the
campus
community,
adding
that
officials
were
considering
several
unspecified
vaccination
incentives.
Students
must
provide
proof of
their
vaccination
or an
approved
exemption
by
mid-July.
Michigan
is the
second
of the
state’s
15
public
universities
to
require
students
living
on
campus
to be
vaccinated,
joining
Oakland.
About
47% of
Michigan
residents
ages 16
and
older
have
received
at least
one
dose,
including
33% who
are
fully
vaccinated.
The
state
wants to
immunize
at least
70%.
Dr.
Laraine
Washer,
medical
director
of
infection
control
at
Michigan
Medicine,
said
there
now is
broad
access
to
vaccines,
but
“we’re
in
danger
of
falling
short of
getting
to the
level of
vaccination
coverage
needed
to
achieve
the goal
of
community
immunity
that’s
really
required
to beat
the
virus.”
Medical
providers,
public
health
experts
and
others,
she
said,
have a
duty to
“turn
this
vaccine
hesitancy
into
vaccine
confidence.”
Henry
Ford
Health
System,
a
network
of five
hospitals
in the
Detroit
area and
Jackson,
for the
first
time
reported
a
“softening”
of
vaccine
demand
at its
sites.
The
Republican-led
state
House
this
week
unveiled
a higher
education
budget
that
attempts
to
restrict
universities
from
requiring
COVID-19
vaccination
as a
prerequisite
for
“enrollment
or
in-person
instruction.”
according
to the
House
Fiscal
Agency.
The
provision
could be
vetoed
or
declared
unenforceable
by
Democratic
Gov.
Gretchen
Whitmer
if it
survives
legislative
negotiations.
The
GOP-controlled
Senate
did not
propose
such
language.
The
federal
government
reported
Friday
that
Michigan
still
had the
country’s
highest
seven-day
case
rate,
but that
the rate
continued
to
decline.
The
seven-day
average
of daily
cases
was
about
5,500,
down
from the
third
surge’s
peak of
around
7,000
for
several
days
last
week.
The
number
of
hospitalized
adults
with
confirmed
infections,
which
hit a
record
of more
than
4,100
early
this
week,
kept
declining
as well
to about
3,650.
Lynn
Sutfin,
spokeswoman
for the
state
health
department,
said it
was too
soon to
draw
conclusions.
“Some
previous
plateaus
have led
into
another
increase,
and
while
some
current
trends
may
appear
promising,
metrics
remain
high,”
she
said.
She
encouraged
residents
to wear
masks,
wash
hands,
social
distance
and get
the
vaccine.
___
Follow
David
Eggert
at
https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
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