Washington University administrators have not determined whether they will require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the upcoming in-person fall semester, despite a rising number of peer institutions announcing the requirement.

While at least 14 colleges and universities, including Duke, Brown, Cornell, Northeastern and Notre Dame, have announced vaccine requirements, in an email to the University community about the fall planning process, Mar. 31, Chancellor Andrew Martin and Provost Beverly Wendland wrote that they hope all community members will have access to the vaccine by August, but did not announce it as a requirement to return to campus in the fall.

“This would be a major step forward for us in being able to return more fully to an in-person campus experience,” they wrote. “It is possible that we will require the vaccine for students, faculty or staff, depending on vaccine availability. We highly recommend that everyone gets vaccinated, if you are able to do so.”

Dr. Steve Lawrence, an infectious disease expert at the University, said one factor guiding the decision-making for the University is the impact vaccination has on the community.

“If we know we have very, very high levels of vaccine uptake in the environment that we’re operating, we have that much more confidence that everything can be done safely,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence added that this past year has demonstrated that classes can be held safely without the vaccine, but it requires a significant amount of distance and modification, which has limitations. High levels of immunity and low levels of transmission are needed to operate in a more normal way, he said.

“When we get to a point where there is both reduced levels of transmission within the community and very high levels of immune individuals, through mostly vaccination, then we will have much more ability to be able to have not only classroom, but other activities that are much closer to what would normally be seen in a non-pandemic situation,” Lawrence said.

Though the spring semester has not ended yet, some colleges and universities are setting expectations for vaccine documentation in the fall. In a statement to the Duke University community, President Vincent Price wrote that a high vaccination rate is the only way to safely return to campus.

“Looking ahead, we know that widespread vaccination will be the only way to facilitate a return to normal and robust campus life,” Price wrote. “With this in mind, we plan to require all new and returning Duke students to present proof of vaccination to Student Health before they can enroll for the Fall 2021 semester.”

Similarly to Duke, Brown University announced last week that all students wishing to attend in-person in the fall semester need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Russell Carey, Brown’s Executive Vice President for Planning and Policy, told the Brown Daily Herald that the decision was made with admitted students in mind, so it is “really clear what will be expected of them.”

The Washington University administration declined to comment on when a decision about a vaccine requirement would be announced. “At this time, there is nothing more to say beyond what was in the March 31 message to the community,” Julie Flory, Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communication, wrote in a statement to Student Life.

When weighing the benefits of such a mandate, Lawrence said a vaccine requirement would ensure that people feel more comfortable on campus next year.

“The primary benefit is that it gives confidence for the other students, for the faculty, for administrators,” Lawrence said. “It gives confidence that we have created what is likely to be an even safer space.”

Lawrence added that, along with increased confidence, a mandate would reduce COVID-19 transmission, allowing for fewer restrictions on events and social activities.

“A very large proportion of a college experience has to do with the socialization and that is something that we haven’t been able to do safely, and so having an environment where there is a vaccine requirement would [increase] the likelihood of having more social activities that are safe and allowable,” Lawrence said.

Student Union senator junior Junior David Mathisson said that he has called for a vaccine requirement on campus.

“I think that we absolutely 100% should have a vaccine requirement with the very important provision that Wash. U. make the vaccine available to whoever does not have access to it over the summer,” Mathisson said.

“The fact that they have not already made this requirement is frankly shocking to me,” Mathisson said. “It’s so abundantly clear that Wash. U. is likely to be able to obtain the vaccines to help out everyone who doesn’t have access and that the vaccine is safe [and] effective, and it is vital as a way to both help our community and as a way to protect people from the virus.”

Mathisson noted that the requirement should also include faculty and staff and that the University should also provide vaccines for workers “who work so hard for the community” because “they deserve to be able to get the vaccine.”

The University began offering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to students, faculty and staff, April 8, but has paused the distribution following recommendations from federal health agencies. The University has since secured a supply of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine from Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and hopes to resume vaccinations Apr. 16.

The University already requires students to receive other vaccines, including the annual flu shot this past fall. In a survey of 100 four-year institutions across the country, almost all required at least one vaccine for enrollment. The main difference, Lawrence noted, is the polarization around the pandemic.

“We unfortunately have experienced an interesting polarization of people’s views… They feel very strongly about this pandemic in general” Lawrence said. “Certainly there are people that have questions about the significance of this pandemic that made this much more of a polarizing topic and environment.”

As with other colleges requiring vaccination against COVID-19 in the fall, if a mandate is implemented by Washington University, Lawrence said there would be a process to adjudicate which COVID-19 vaccines would meet the requirement and what types of exemptions, including medical reasons, would be allowed.

Students have already been encouraged to upload documentation of vaccination against COVID-19 to their student health portals in order to prevent vaccinated students from being sent to quarantine following exposure.