May 6, 2021: COVID-19 Update
Student COVID Vaccinations for Fall 2021
Dear Champlain Community,
As we bring the 2020-2021 academic year to a close, we are encouraged by the resilience of our students, faculty, and staff during this challenging year and by the overall decline in COVID cases in Vermont. We are proud of our community and all of the efforts to keep COVID cases low by following state and college protocols.
Our commitment to the safety of our community remains paramount. We are pleased to hear that so many students, faculty, and staff have already scheduled and/or received their vaccinations. As part of our Fall 2021 plan to return to a more open and interactive student experience, including in-person instruction and on-campus activities, it is our intention to require that all students returning to campus in fall 2021, including those studying in Montreal and Dublin, be fully vaccinated once the vaccines have received full FDA approvals. We will work with individual students who have qualifying exemptions, including for medical or religious reasons. We have not yet determined whether vaccination will be required for faculty and staff.
The COVID-19 vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective at preventing the transmission of COVID as well as preventing serious illness or death from COVID-19, allowing for reduced restrictions on travel and gatherings. For complete details on the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine and how to schedule an appointment, please refer to the CDC website.
We will follow up in the coming weeks with further information about getting vaccinated, documenting vaccination, exemptions, and how vaccinations will impact current college protocols such as surveillance testing, the need for quarantining, and our ability to gather in groups.
As a reminder, additional updates for the fall will be shared in the coming months and all of our COVID-related updates are included on our website, including FAQs, communications, and our testing dashboard. We will continue to update this resource as information becomes available. Questions can be emailed to feedback@champlain.edu.
Thank you again for your continued commitment to keeping our campus safe.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Akande, President
Dave Finney, President Emeritus
