Students attending universities in New York won’t be able to continue classes unless they get vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP virus.
“So, today, no excuses. SUNY and CUNY boards will require vaccinations for all in-person students coming back to school in the fall,” the Democratic governor said. “You’re a young person. You go to a SUNY school, State University of New York, City University of New York, you must have a vaccine to come back in September.”
The requirement will only be mandated in public universities, though Cuomo also encouraged private schools to follow suit.
“I also encourage private schools to do the same thing,” he said. “Let’s make a global statement. You cannot go back to school in person in September unless you have a vaccine.”
The requirement will affect more than 435,000 full-time students and comes as Cuomo and other officials are offering a slew of incentives aimed at New Yorkers to get inoculated as they see the demand for vaccines declining.
Besides the university vaccination mandate, Cuomo also said subway riders will get free seven-day passes to the system for getting the vaccine at station sites that will dispense Johnson & Johnson, which will be starting on Wednesday.
“You are walking into the subway station anyway. You are walking past the vaccination site. It’s a one-shot vaccination. Stop, take a few minutes, get the vaccine,” he said.
New York joins several institutions throughout the nation that are requiring students to show vaccination proof before returning to class, while other government officials have decided to ban such documents in their state.
Several other countries outside the United States, including Israel and Iceland, have mandated vaccine passports for certain activities.
