John Hopkins Universityhas released a new COVID-19 vaccination policy to ensure the safety and well-being of everyone on-campus. Based on the latest trends on coronavirus cases and research that shows a surge in Delta variants, the university has decided to accept vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which include three vaccines: Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson/Janssen. These vaccines have apparentlyprovesd to be the most effective against the known coronavirus variants.
Any student who has not been vaccinated by any of the three FDA-approved vaccines will have to get revaccinated with the full dose. The university will assist studentsin getting vaccinated as per the new policy.
The university has also decided to expand the on-campus asymptomatic COVID-19 testing. According to the current policy, anyone on-campus who is not vaccinated by an approved vaccine will have to get tested twice a week. Also, vaccinated undergraduate students staying on-campus will have to get tested once a week. Asymptomatic COVID testing is available voluntarily for all members of the university.
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While the new policy has been implemented to ensure a safe environment on-campus, few students have expressed their concern over the newly implemented policy at the John Hopkins University. An international studentsaysthat the new policy is discriminatory toward foreign students who are being forced to get re-vaccinated, as it will do nothing but increase their stress. According to her, the University should've had a clear strategyin the first place regarding the vaccines. However, she did appreciate the university for providing FDA-approved vaccines and at no cost to international students.
On the other hand, Professor Dr Diane E. Griffin- Molecular Microbiology and Immunology believe the new vaccine policy at John Hopkins University to be sensible. Statements from various students show that they are comfortable getting tested regularly and all that they need is a normal college experience.
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Source: The News-Letter- JHU