Rutgers Now Requires Booster Shot For All Students, Staff

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — On Tuesday morning, Rutgers University announced that all 71,000 students and 25,600 employees statewide must get the booster shot, and that all classes will be entirely virtual until Jan. 31.

In December, as New Jersey universities such as Princeton and Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken required a booster, Rutgers held off from mandating the third shot.

"While we have no impending plans to require boosters for any community member, as an institution we continue to follow the science and will make our decisions accordingly," said Rutgers spokeswoman Carissa Sestito on Dec. 20.

However, all of that has now changed: New Jersey is witnessing its highest case numbers on record (29,740 on Monday), and increasing hospitalizations and deaths, among both the vaccinated and unvaccinated.

"We are now requiring that all vaccinated students obtain a booster vaccination as soon as eligible," said Rutgers University Chief Operating Officer Antonio Calcado in this announcement, calling Tuesday's news "significant changes" and calling the booster shot requirement "critical."

"Those students who are now eligible must obtain a vaccine booster by January 31, 2022, and proof of the booster must be uploaded to the vaccine portal by that date. Students residing on campus are strongly encouraged to upload their status by January 15, 2022," he wrote. "In addition, all employees, except those with previously approved medical or religious exemptions, will be required to receive a vaccine booster and upload proof of same."

Calcado said the surge in COVID-19 cases, and the dramatic spread of the omicron variant, is what led Rutgers to Tuesday's decision. He stressed that virtual classes are only "temporary" and that Rutgers hoped to return to normal campus life in February.

"The data and the science surrounding the surge in COVID-19 cases, and the dramatic spread of the Omicron variant, require that we adapt to the evolving situation," said Calcado.

On Sunday, New Jersey logged more people hospitalized with COVID (4,715) than at any point in the past year, and the most since early May 2020. The state's Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said Dec. 31 that 70 percent of the people currently hospitalized are unvaccinated, and 30 percent are vaccinated.

Rutgers students and staff with approved medical or religious exemptions are excused from the booster requirement. However, the number of those exempt is very small: In September, Rutgers said 98.8 percent of its student body statewide complied with the vaccination requirement. In total, about three percent of the entire Rutgers community (all students, faculty and staff) have received vaccine exemptions, medical and religious, said the university Tuesday.

In-person classes will resume on January 31, said Calcado. Essential employees must still come for in-person work.

And the student return to dorms has been moved from January 16/17 to January 29/30. Rutgers students will not have access to dorm halls until January 29.

Students returning to dorms are also strongly encouraged to take a COVID-19 test within 72 hours prior to their arrival, but are not required to show a negative test.

In March of 2021, Rutgers was the first university in America to announce that it would require all students get a coronavirus vaccine. At first, Rutgers only required its students get the vaccine.

Then as the pandemic continued, it extended the vaccine mandate to anyone associated with healthcare or employed at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. And then finally in October 2021 it extended the vaccine mandate to all university professors and staff. On Oct. 25, Rutgers told all of its employees — from professors to dining hall staff — they must be vaccinated by Dec. 8 or risk termination.

At Princeton, students must receive booster shots by Jan. 31, while Stevens Institute of Technology requires students and staff get booster shots no later than March 31.

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