COVID Vaccine Mandate Remains At Rutgers For Students, Staff

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — Rutgers University is requiring students and staff receive the COVID-19 vaccine in order to be enrolled for the upcoming fall semester.

Before all Rutgers students and professors return for the first day of class on Sept. 6, they must show proof of having received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot.

During the pandemic, Rutgers added the COVID-19 vaccine to its list of required vaccines for students. That list includes most of the standard vaccines Americans already must receive to attend public school: Measles, mumps, rubella, the Hepatitis B vaccine, the meningitis vaccine and so on. Additionally, Rutgers medical school and nursing students are required to get an annual flu shot.

The COVID vaccine remains on that list as of Tuesday.

"Rutgers includes the COVID-19 vaccine among its immunization requirements for students," said Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin Tuesday. "A primary COVID-19 series is required for non-clinical students, while boosters are also required for clinical students."

On May 16 of this year, Rutgers dropped its requirement for coronavirus booster shots for most students — unless the student or staff member works or studies in a clinical setting. Those students and staff are still required to show proof of having received at least one booster shot.

Rutgers' decision to keep its COVID vaccine requirement in place was criticized by a New Jersey lawmaker.

State Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, a moderate Republican who represents Monmouth County, said it is "ludicrous" Rutgers is still requiring COVID vaccines when the Centers for Disease Control declared the COVID pandemic over on May 11 of this year.

“Rutgers students who don’t want to get the vaccine for whatever reason should be allowed to not get the vaccine and still attend college — that should absolutely be no business of irrational Rutgers administrators,” he said. “Good job Rutgers for putting another stake in the heart of the credibility of institutions of higher education."

Rutgers allows for medical and religious exemptions, but they are rare. More than 95 percent of Rutgers student complied when RU first mandated the COVID shot in 2021; the school said students would be disenrolled if they did not comply.

Other media outlets are wrong; masks are not required at Rutgers

Conservative media site News Nation reported this week that Rutgers is still requiring students to wear masks indoors.

That is false.

In October 2022, Rutgers stopped requiring masks in classrooms and dorms. That policy remains in place as of today, said Rutgers spokeswoman Dory Devlin this week. However, masks are still required around what the school calls "vulnerable" patients at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, which is part of Rutgers.

Princeton no longer requires COVID vaccines

During the pandemic, many American colleges, like Rutgers, required students get the COVID vaccine. Rutgers then also mandated all follow-up boosters.

However, this summer the American College Health Association polled 311 U.S. colleges and found that only 7 percent still require the COVID vaccine for students. That is according to this August 2023 article in Inside Higher Education, entitled "COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates Are Almost Gone."

Today, about 100 American colleges still require proof of the COVID vaccine, according to No College Mandates.

In New Jersey, Montclair State still requires students get the COVID vaccine. Princeton dropped all its COVID-vaccine requirements.

18 students sued Rutgers in 2021 over COVID vaccine mandate

Rutgers initially did not require its professors get the COVID vaccine, only students. But then a group of Rutgers professors said they too should be included in the vaccine mandate, and Rutgers extended it to all students and staff.

When Rutgers first mandated students get the COVID vaccine, 18 Rutgers students filed a federal lawsuit against Rutgers in August of 2021, arguing that the school's coronavirus vaccine requirement is unconstitutional and violates their right to medical privacy.

The students were joined in the suit by Children’s Health Defense, a non-profit led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., now running as a Democrat for U.S. president and who has questioned vaccine safety long before coronavirus emerged.

That lawsuit was not successful in the courts; just one month later, in September 2021, a federal judge denied the students' request for an injunction.

Hundreds Turn Up To Protest Rutgers' Vaccine Mandate For Students (May 2021)

Rutgers Sued By Students, Anti-Vax Group For Vaccine Mandate (Aug. 2021)

Judge declines to block Rutgers vaccine mandate (Sept. 2021)