Vaccine OK spurs SUNY mandate

All students, staff will have 35-day window to show proof they are fully vaccinated

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot Monday triggered a vaccine mandate on State University of New York campuses.

Unvaccinated students, faculty and staff at the 64 colleges and universities have 35 days to get both doses of the vaccine and must continue to provide saliva samples until they are fully vaccinated, according to SUNY’S policy. Students may submit requests for an exemption based on medical or religious grounds during the grace period.

“With the FDA’S full approval of the Pfizer COVID vaccine today, the state

mandated directive for all students to be vaccinated is now in place for all SUNY campuses . ... As has been the case from the very start, we are confident our students will continue to do the right thing to protect themselves, their families, and their campus community,” SUNY spokeswoman Holly Liapis and United University Professions (UUP) spokesperson Mike Lisi said in a statement.

With most students back on campus this semester, social distancing is not a significant part of campus mitigation strategies. Masks are universally required indoors for the fall semester and anyone who is not vaccinated who enters a SUNY campus must submit to surveillance testing.

Ualbany, which started classes on Monday, had already mandated the vaccine for residential students, requiring at least one dose before moving in, regardless of FDA approval. Non-vaccinated, off-campus students and staff were simply required to participate in routine surveillance testing in order to have access to the grounds.

About 85 percent of all students registered at Ualbany this semester have already received at least one dose of a vaccine and 75 percent are fully vaccinated, a spokesman said.

A number of local colleges and universities were already requiring students and staff to get COVID -19 vaccines regardless of the federal approval process, including Schenectady’s Union College, Siena College in Loudonville, Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.

Paul Buckowski / Times Union Students at the University at Albany walk through the uptown campus on the first day of classes on Monday in Albany.

Paul Buckowski / Times Union Students are seen inside a classroom on the University at Albany campus during the first day of classes on Monday in Albany.