UNC students are preparing for a return to campus in the fall thanks to increased vaccination rates. The UNC system is not requiring students to get the vaccine prior to the fall semester, but it is asking that students self-report whether they got their shots.
Upon returning to campus, students will be asked to mark if they have been vaccinated, unvaccinated or if they prefer not to answer. University leadership said the new vaccination status requirement will help the campus return to standard community operations in the fall.
Students will be asked to register which shot they received and the date they received it. They also have the option to upload documentation of their vaccinations.
Amy Johnson, the UNC vice chancellor of student affairs, said the number of vaccinated students is encouraging.
“In addition to registering for your courses, the other important thing we are asking students to do in preparation for the fall is to get vaccinated,” Johnson said.
While vaccination status can be changed at any time, Johnson said the sooner students get vaccinated the better.
Students who are unvaccinated or prefer not to answer will be required to participate in the Carolina Together Testing Program. Specifics on what COVID testing will look like for those students is not yet released, but Johnson said it is expected to be similar to the spring semester, which had a weekly testing requirement.
Vaccinated students will not have to participate in asymptomatic testing for the fall semester.
Dr. Amir Barzin leads the Carolina Together Testing Program. He said the decision to not test vaccinated students was based on CDC guidance for higher education.
“We are following recommendations of saying that if you’re vaccinated, asymptomatic, regular testing is not necessary,” Barzin said. “We are looking at that as one of the pillars of how our testing program will be established and built.”
Both Barzin and Johnson said they believe there is a strong desire to be vaccinated among the campus community. There are also positive consequences to doing so.
“The other benefit to students who are vaccinated is that if they live with us on campus this year, and they are vaccinated and they are identified as a close contact through the verification protocol, they will not be required to move into quarantine and isolation housing,” Johnson said.
Barzin said the fall testing protocol and vaccination reporting is based on information gained from previous semesters of dealing with the pandemic.
“I think what we are setting ourselves up for is using what we have learned in the past to help, but not be the only thing we look at for the future,” Barzin said.
Barzin said there needs to be flexibility in the university’s guidance as the semester progresses because guidance can change over time.
To ensure honesty in vaccination reporting, UNC is planning to conduct periodic auditing of the state vaccination database. Johnson said she believes a safe return to campus is a powerful motivator for students to get their shots.
“We strongly think that there is a desire among our campus community just to be vaccinated in order to return to the in-person community experience that we have here in Carolina,” Johnson said.
UNC expects to be between 85-90 percent capacity in the fall semester. While community guidelines have not been finalized, Johnson said she expects students to follow those standards.
“We’re not going to discipline ourselves out of a public health crisis and so as always our objective is to encourage students to comply with the community standards and that we do everything we can to make that clear and easy to do.”
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