Rutgers University announced April 1 on its website that it has dropped its COVID-19 shot mandate in a move that critics hope will lead to the restoration of individual health freedom for students across the nation while marking the potential end of a controversial era.
The website added that “face coverings are not required at the university but are welcomed.”
The school’s decision comes as an increasing number of schools across the country continue to drop the requirement that students be forced to take the controversial shot before enrolling. Rutgers now joins a rapidly growing list, as just last week, four other universities—DePauw University, Bates College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and Johns Hopkins University—dropped their COVID-19 shot requirements, according to advocacy group No College Mandates.
On March 5, Harvard University announced on its website that it was ending its COVID-19 shot requirement, posting: “Harvard University Health Services (HUHS) will no longer require students to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. We strongly recommend that all members of the Harvard community stay up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccines, including boosters if eligible.”
The announcement by Rutgers brings the total number of schools still requiring the shot to its lowest number since spring 2021.
No College Mandates co-founder Lucia Sinatra, which describes itself as a “group of concerned parents, doctors, nurses, professors, students, and other college stakeholders working towards the common goal of ending COVID-19 vaccine mandates,” told The Epoch Times the move is a big step towards the restoration of individual health autonomy.
“I think this is the most cataclysmic of all the announcements because Rutgers was the first and seemingly led the way in telling the public that, yes, these vaccines are safe and effective everyone else seemed to follow their lead,” said Mrs. Sinatra. “This is a very big deal and absolutely cannot be understated.”
“It is a clear sign that we are getting towards the end,” she added.
In March 2021, Rutgers officials boasted they were the first school in the United States to make the COVID-19 shot compulsory when the university announced all students returning to campus in the fall would have to show proof they were vaccinated against COVID-19, or they would be unenrolled.
The number of schools requiring the shot has plummeted as the past two and a half years have seen it become mired in controversy. More than 80 percent of Americans took the original COVID-19 shots after officials pledged that they would effectively prevent contraction and stop the spread of the disease.
However, once it was revealed that the shots didn’t work as promised, interest in the subsequent booster decreased dramatically.
Momentum has appeared to have shifted dramatically as schools that continue COVID-19 shot mandates have come under increasing scrutiny from a growing chorus of medical professionals and elected officials.
Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican senator in New Jersey’s 13th District, declared on March 5 that imposing the mandate on students discriminates against the state’s taxpayers by refusing admittance to those who choose not to get the controversial shot.
“It is difficult to put into words just how absurd and irrational the vaccination policy is at Rutgers University,” Mr. O’Scanlon said in a statement. “The 2024-2025 semester is just around the corner and the administrators at Rutgers still insist that all students, faculty, and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine—a policy that has no basis in science whatsoever. In fact, the entire policy is anti-science.”
“Until Rutgers lifts the mandate, I’m calling for a cut in funding. And, students who are thinking about going to Rutgers, but are not going due to the vaccine mandate, should be able to apply for school aid to use at whatever institution they want,” he added.
Rutgers stated on its website that the policy has been implemented “to minimize COVID outbreaks” and “to prevent and reduce the risk of COVID transmission.”
New Jersey taxpayers currently pay for nearly one-fifth of Rutgers’s operating costs, deriving 19 percent of its revenue from state appropriations, according to the school.
Congressman Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) called the practice “discrimination” that is “unfair, unjust, and unnecessary,” writing in a letter dated March 13 that with the COVID-19 emergency having ended nearly a year ago, it is time for universities to drop the antiquated policy.
“It’s been almost a year since the President signed H.Res. 7, which Congress passed with bipartisan support ending the COVID-19 national emergency on April 10, 2023,” wrote Mr. Kiley in letters addressed individually to all the schools still requiring the shot for enrollment. “Your institution is among the last colleges/universities still mandating the vaccine.”
However, despite the number of schools that have already opted out, COVID-19 shot mandates continue to be in effect for students at 39 out of the top 800 colleges in the United States, according to the most recent data acquired by No College Mandates.
Mrs. Sinatra says she plans to personally reach out to each of the remaining schools that continue to impose the COVID-19 shot mandate and that her group will continue fighting until every last school in the nation recognizes the individual freedom of all students.
“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Mrs. Sinatra. “I think that because this young adult population was so fear driven and easily manipulated, I worry that if we let our guard down for even a moment that when the next virus comes along that we will be right back where we started with these mandates.”
“We need to stay vigilant to make sure that this never, ever, happens again.”
