SUNY and CUNY students must be vaccinated to start in-person fall classes

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New York Stare announced Monday that SUNY and CUNY boards will require proof of vaccination for all students attending in-person classes this fall, and encouraged all private universities and colleges to adopt the same guidelines.

Chancellor Malatras issued this statement Monday on the pending vaccine requirement: “Since day one of this pandemic, our students, faculty, and staffs’ health and well-being have always been top priority. We have taken extraordinary steps to keep our communities safe—from 100 percent weekly mandated testing, to enhanced health and safety protocols, to opening our campuses to serve as vaccination sites for SUNY and the broader community, to advocating for expanded vaccine eligibility for the entire SUNY community and to a comprehensive public service campaign to get our SUNY community vaccinated.

“And all of these efforts have paid enormous dividends. SUNY’s 14-day positivity rate is 0.14 percent and our system—the largest comprehensive system in the nation—has done an extraordinary job keeping our campuses running under trying circumstances.

“Over the past several weeks we have been working with our SUNY community to develop the best plan to make sure we can return to full reopening in the fall and turn the page on COVID. We thank the Governor for providing resources to our many campuses offering vaccines to SUNY and the broader community. The State’s new vaccination requirement—contingent on full FDA approval—will be another step in restoring normal campus activity this fall.”