All Atlanta Univesity Center faculty and staff will have to get a COVID-19 vaccine unless they have a medical or religious exemption before returning to an on-campus learning environment the coalition of HBCUs announced in a statement on Monday..
AJC reports that The Atlanta University Center—which consists of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Spelman College—issued a joint statement requiring all students, staff, and faculty to be fully vaccinated if they intend to return to on-campus learning for the next semester.
“Using the latest scientific data to implement vaccination protocols is the next step in keeping our community safe,” the joint statement read. “Vaccination of our community members is critical to continue meeting our highest priority—maintaining the safety and wellbeing of our constituents.”
The statement added that the AUC considers someone “fully vaccinated” if at least two weeks have passed since a person received their second dose of a two-dose vaccine or the only shot of a single-dose vaccine. Since the schools are all privately funded, they didn’t need the input of state officials to make the decision. Beverly James, spokesperson for the AUC, told AJC that exceptions would be made for people with religious or medical exemptions.