- [Nurse] Here we go.
- I definitely think that it's gonna become
one of those things that just happens at universities
of submitting your vaccination record.
- I know of a lot of people
who've stayed home for first and second semester,
but I think a lot of them
are planning to come to campus in the fall.
- [Narrator] A growing number of colleges around the country
will require students get vaccinated
before returning to campus in the fall.
- That means a lot more in-person events,
in person activities and classes.
Of course masks and social distancing
may still be a part of campus life,
but certainly more classes will be happening
inside the class than they have this year.
- [Narrator] But the mandates are stirring up controversy
about the legality, and whether colleges
can make vaccinations a condition of attendance.
Will the requirements help campus
return to some semblance of normal in the fall?
Or will there be legal setbacks?
(light upbeat music)
For Northeastern, a private university in Boston,
the school says herd immunity is the best path
to return its 18,000 undergraduates
to fully in-person classes.
- The magic of an undergraduate degree
is that you're close to your friends
and you're close to your classmates and you learn together.
But that same thing that makes it so rich and interesting
does allow the virus to spread.
- [Narrator] Northeastern Administrator, Michael Armini,
believes the school is on solid legal ground
with the requirements.
- So we're gonna require the COVID-19 vaccine
for the same reason
that we have always required vaccinations of students,
whether it's for measles or mumps or meningitis,
and it's to keep the community safe.
- [Narrator] Northeastern reopened last fall,
but with frequent COVID testing,
social distancing protocols, and limited in-person classes.
- You never know if someone has coronavirus.
So it's just that whole issue of I want to meet new people.
I want to get into my new college environment.
But is it safe to do so yet?
I'd say that was the biggest stressor
of going to college this year,
which was definitely unique for our class.
- [Narrator] Cole Clericuzio is a freshmen,
and says his experience has been anything but normal.
He works part time as an EMT,
treating COVID patients up close.
So he jumped at the opportunity to get vaccinated.
- Definitely when I saw that I had an opportunity
to get an appointment, and I took the first available.
There was no question in my mind.
- [Narrator] He's even been volunteering
to help get people vaccinated,
and appeared in the school produced PSA.
- If I could carry vaccines with me,
I'd just walk around giving them to people.
It's that easy.
- [Narrator] Like many of the other schools
mandating the vaccine, Northeastern says it will allow
for medical and religious exemptions.
But Armini says that making this announcement early
will allow vaccine hesitant students to make other plans
because they won't be allowed on campus.
- I mean, we hope it doesn't come to that.
We hope that over the summer
anyone who may have some vaccine hesitancy,
that that sort of dissipates over time.
One thing that we always find with students
is that peer to peer is very powerful.
So if their friends are being vaccinated
and they're enthusiastic about it, that helps a lot.
- [Narrator] Other colleges are hoping
they can reach herd immunity without a mandate.
Texas A&M and Virginia Tech
believe the requirements conflict with federal law
because the FDA has only allowed
the emergency use of the vaccines.
- I think a lot of it's just becoming
very politically charged,
this debate around vaccine passports.
By getting a vaccine you're allowed to do certain things,
and by not getting it you're left out of those things.
So places like Florida, Arizona, Texas,
Utah specifically says that public higher ed institutions
are not allowed to require vaccination of students,
faculty and staff in order to be on campus.
- [Narrator] The country's largest university systems,
the University of California
and California State University,
recently announced they intend to require vaccinations
for the more than a million students and faculty,
but say the timing of a more formal mandate
will depend on when the FDA gives full authorization
to one or more of the vaccines.
It could come before or after classes start.
Many schools aren't wasting any time.
They've launched vaccination blitzes
and public health campaigns
to get students immunized before they leave for the summer.
- Protecting the path, we're all getting tested regularly,
making sure to fill out our daily wellness checks.
- [Narrator] Last week Cornell University
in Ithaca, New York held a pop-up vaccination event
on campus that provided Moderna shots to students.
The school says that nearly 50%
of the current on-campus population is already vaccinated.
Senior Jade Ovadia says she's relieved
to see more and more of her classmates vaccinated.
- So I'm fully vaccinated,
as are many of the Cornell students.
Everybody is very eager to get vaccinated.
You know college life,
you only get to have it really once in your life.
And COVID-19 kinda interrupted that for us.
And these are years that we don't really get back.
So I think we're all just really eager and willing
to take whatever actions that will help us
be able to return back to that experience.
(light upbeat music)