A Message from the President of the College about a Campus Vaccine Requirement and Upcoming Vaccination Clinic
As the 2020-2021 academic year comes to a close and we look forward to Commencement 2021, I am grateful to all of you for working so well together and having kept our community safe. Thanks to the remarkable adherence to Bard's COVID-19 safety protocols, the College has seen an extremely low number of COVID-19 cases throughout this academic year. With vaccines now widely available, the College has been helping community members get vaccinated as quickly as possible. We have organized shuttle buses to local vaccination sites and offered an on-campus vaccination clinic. As a result, a large percentage of students and employees is already fully vaccinated.
Public health experts advise that universal vaccination is the surest basis for a normal campus experience, including expanded in-person instruction, campus activities, athletics, performances, and gatherings in the fall. In addition, the American College Health Association has recommended that colleges require COVID-19 vaccination for all on-campus students for the fall 2021 semester. Over 200 other colleges and universities have announced such a requirement. As the ACHA notes, pre-matriculation vaccination requirements for students attending institutions of higher education in the United States are not new.
As a result, Bard College will require all students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021-2022 academic year, and strongly encourages all employees to be vaccinated as well.
To support this requirement, the College has arranged one more vaccination clinic this semester, which will take place on campus on Tuesday, May 11 9am-12PM. The single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine will be administered, enabling anyone who participates in the clinic to be fully vaccinated in time for Bard’s Baccalaureate and Commencement activities. This clinic is open to all members of the Bard community: students, faculty, staff, and their immediate household members over the age of 18. If you would like to participate in the May 11 on-campus vaccination clinic, please fill out the interest form in your Bard email by the end of the day on Friday May 7.
In the coming weeks, Bard’s COVID-19 Response Team will offer additional details for returning students and new students arriving in August, including requests for exemptions and anyone who may have a necessary contraindication. The College will work closely with new and returning students, both domestic and international, to facilitate access to vaccinations before the start of the fall 2021 semester.
COVID-19 testing will continue to be required for members of the Bard Community who will be on campus over the summer, in order to keep Bard’s campus and its neighbors safe and to comply with New York State guidance. We expect federal and state guidance to evolve over the summer and will keep you informed regarding any required testing and quarantine protocols for the fall semester.
With the arrival of safe and effective vaccines and a deeper understanding of how to maintain a safe campus, we are confident the fall semester will mark the beginning of a return of normalcy here at Bard. We look forward to the next academic year and opportunities it will bring to renew the time-honored tradition of liberal education and the community of scholars centered around a campus—the opportunity to gather, study, work, create and celebrate together, in-person once more.
Sincerely,
Leon Botstein
For more information, call 845-758-6822.