UConn students don’t need to be vaccinated against COVID-19

University of Connecticut students are no longer required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, after the school’s Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to repeal a vaccine policy that had been in place for nearly two years.

In a letter to the board ahead of Wednesday’s meeting, UConn President Radenka Maric recommended an end to the policy, which mandated vaccines for all undergraduate and graduate students.

“As COVID-19 transitions to an endemic disease, it is appropriate for the University to no longer require students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to attend the Storrs or regional campuses,” the letter said.

Maric wrote that UConn “continues to strongly recommend” vaccination for all students but that the administration now views COVID-19

vaccines the way they do influenza vaccines, which are encouraged but not required.

The board unanimously approved the recommendation Wednesday, with no discussion of the subject.

UConn’s vaccine requirement first went into effect in June 2021, shortly after COVID shots became widely available in Connecticut for people of all ages. Under the school’s policy, students may receive medical or non-medical exemptions under special circumstances but are then required to undertake additional safety measures.

UConn was one of numerous Connecticut universities to require vaccination for all students at the height of the COVID pandemic. Some schools, including Yale, Wesleyan and others, continue to mandate vaccines, while others, including the state’s other public colleges and universities, have suspended their policies.