Updated: 5:59 PM EDT May 5, 2021 Another university in Massachusetts is requiring its students to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to campus.Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow and other school officials made the announcement Wednesday in a letter to the campus community.Exceptions will be made for Harvard students who do not wish to be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons.Students who are planning to be on campus should be at least two weeks out from receiving their final dose of a Food and Drug Administration-authorized or approved vaccine Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson or by the World Health Organization, such as AstraZeneca, before the start of the upcoming fall semester.International students and others who are unable to get access to authorized COVID-19 vaccines before the fall will be offered vaccination upon arrival by the university. Those students, however, may be subject to additional requirements, such as more frequ
Mass. state schools will require students be vaccinated this fall. Will other states follow? Hadley Barndollar, USA TODAY NETWORK
US colleges weigh vaccine mandates for fall
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Private colleges and universities in New England were some of the first to announce they ll require vaccination for all students returning to campus this fall. Some of the region s state colleges and universities have also begun to follow suit – but not all of them.
State universities in Massachusetts are leading the way with vaccine mandates, while university systems in neighboring states have been less explicit. At least one has said it will wait until permanent approval of the COVID-19 vaccines by the Food and Drug Administration before considering a requirement for students.
North Adams resident Aprilyn Carsno has entered the race for mayor, a field that already includes Joshua Vallieres, a student at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and Rachel Branch, an environmental advocate and longtime city resident.
Carsno, a political newcomer and self-identified independent, said the condition of the cityâs infrastructure and economic issues motivated her to run.
âPersonally, I would like to fix the town,â she said. âThe streets. The sidewalks. Thereâs so much to do. The fire hydrants would be first thing.â
Carsno, whose father is from North Adams, worked as a certified nursing assistant at Berkshire Health Systems until recently and now works part time at Stop & Shop. She moved to the city more than two decades ago and bought a home through a program run by former mayor John Barrett III, an âown your own homeâ program that she says she wants to bring back.