Yale University requiring bivalent booster shot for spring semester

Yale University announced it will now require students to get a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster by the start of the 2023 spring semester.

“Based on recent CDC recommendations, the university will require all undergraduate, graduate, and professional students—other than those with an approved medical or religious exemption—to receive an updated, bivalent COVID-19 vaccine booster by the start of the spring semester, even if they have previously received a monovalent booster,” Stephanie Spangler, Vice Provost for Health Affairs and Academic Integrity, wrote in a message to the Yale Community.

She explained that the booster is necessary because “experience and research have shown that vaccine-induced immunity can wane over time, and new COVID-19 variants can challenge our immune defenses.” 

At the same time, faculty “are strongly encouraged” to get boosted once eligible. 

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Yale will hold “pop-up COVID-19 booster clinics’’ which only offer the Pfizer booster, Spangler wrote. Appointments are available on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10.

Julie Sweigard, Yale University’s Health and Safety Leader, wrote that students can get the shot “even if [they] recovered recently from a COVID-19 infection.

There’s no need to delay,” she wrote. “The deadline for boosters is the start of the spring term.”

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Yale’s official COVID-19 Vaccination Policy was updated on Oct. 27 to reflect the new changes:

“Additionally, students—other than those with approved medical or religious exemptions—must receive an updated, bivalent booster by the start of the spring semester (in any event, no later than January 31, 2023), regardless of how many previous monovalent boosters they received.”

A monovalent vaccine is engineered to fight only one strand of the virus while a bivalent vaccine is designed to combat multiple strands. 

Campus Reform reported that Harvard University and Fordham University also require students receive a bivalent booster.

Campus Reform contacted every university, organization, and individual mentioned. This article will be updated accordingly.

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