University of Cincinnati Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

University of Cincinnati Drops COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate
A healthcare worker fills a syringe with Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in a file image. (Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images)
Bill Pan
4/26/2022
Updated:
4/26/2022

Starting from the upcoming 2022 summer semester, the University of Cincinnati (UC) will no longer require students and employees to get COVID-19 vaccines.

The change comes about a month after UC, the second largest university in Ohio, stopped demanding people wear masks while inside campus buildings.

UC still “strongly encourages” members of the campus community to get one of the COVID-19 vaccines and booster doses. It also reminds those who work and learn in certain sites, such as hospitals or clinical facilities, that they may still need to comply with site-specific COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

“Non-compliance may prevent one from fulfilling one’s academic and professional objectives,” it says.

The university now joins a handful of institutions that have dropped the COVID-19 vaccine mandate they had implemented last year. The University of Hawaii in March indefinitely suspended its vaccine and mask requirements, except for certain programs and courses such as medicine and nursing. It also halted its daily COVID-19 health screening, and no longer asks visitors to show proof of vaccination or negative test results to attend on-campus events.

Several Virginia schools, notably Radford, George Mason and Virginia Commonwealth Universities, and Virginia Tech, changed their COVID-19 vaccination policy and went vaccine-optional earlier this year. The change was promoted by Virginia’s newly inaugurated Attorney General Jason Miyares, who wrote in a legal opinion that public universities in his state should not require COVID-19 vaccination as a condition for enrollment or attendance, unless the state passes a law saying otherwise.

“There is no question that the General Assembly could enact a statute requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for in-person school attendance,” Miyares wrote. “As of this writing, it has not done so.”

Meanwhile, in Florida, university system officials have been asking, but not requiring, students and employees to wear masks and get vaccinated. When Florida State University (FSU) resumed normal operation last August, it told the campus community it doesn’t have the authority to impose those mandates on them.

“Our authority is limited by the State of Florida and the university cannot mandate vaccines, testing or mask wearing,” an FSU announcement reads.

In September, the presidents of University of Florida (UF) and Santa Fe College were asked by Alachua County Commission to adhere to a public health emergency declaration and implement indoor mandated masks on their campuses. The presidents replied that they would not be able to meet the county’s request.

“Unfortunately, we do not read the State University system policymaking environment the way you describe in your letter,” UF president Kent Fuchs wrote in response to the commission. “The university does not currently have the authority to take the actions you recommend.”