Yale to require vaccinations for faculty, staff by Aug. 1

Full reopening planned in the fall, with vaccine mandate for students

With plans to fully reopen its campus in the fall, Yale University is requiring faculty, staff and students be vaccinated against COVID-19 before their return.

Yale University, which plans to fully reopen its campus this fall, will require faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before Aug. 1.

“Our decision is based on the recommendation of Yale’s experts in public health, medicine, and nursing, as well as discussions with staff and faculty across campus,” Yale president Peter Salovey and provost Scott Strobel wrote in a letter to the university community. “The university also is engaged in conversations with its union partners regarding the implementation of this policy.”

“A high percentage of vaccine coverage is critical for a safe return to in-person university operations,’’ Salovey and Strobel said. “For more than a year, we have anticipated the day we can return fully to on-campus teaching and learning. With improving public health conditions, we are optimistic that we can do so for the fall semester.”

The university had already announced last month that all students must be vaccinated before they return to school.

Just a handful of businesses in Connecticut are requiring employees to be vaccinated. In the Hartford area, the nonprofit Community Renewal Team has been requiring vaccination for 400 employees since January. No other colleges or universities in Connecticut have decided to require vaccinations. In Massachusetts, Springfield College and Boston College require employee vaccination.

Connecticut’s major hospitals — including Connecticut Children’s, Hartford HealthCare, Trinity Health of New England and Yale

New Haven Health — have all said that they have not mandated vaccinations for their staff. All of the hospitals have, however, urged their staff to get the shot.

Sachin Pandya, a law professor at UConn, told the Courant earlier this year that employers are on solid legal footing if they decide to mandate vaccination, so long as they also allow exemptions such as for religious or medical reasons.

“At present, they do have the discretion to mandate it,” Pandya said.

At Yale, both students and faculty will be required to submit proof of vaccination, starting June 1, unless they were vaccinated through the university’s COVID19 vaccine program. Vaccines are available on campus for those who have not been vaccinated.

Salovey’s letter stated that Yale will allow people to apply for an exemption from the vaccine for medical or religious reasons, as well as other “strongly held personal” beliefs. Those who are approved for exemptions by Yale must undergo regular COVID-19 testing and be subjected to additional health and safety requirements.