Middlebury College Will Require Fall Students to Be Vaccinated

Health care workers receiving the COVID-19 vaccine Credit: Courtesy of Ryan Mercer/UVM Health Network

Middlebury College has joined a growing number of colleges in Vermont and around the country that will require students attending this fall to be vaccinated for COVID-19.

President Laurie Patton and other college officials jointly announced Thursday that students, staff, and faculty who live, work, and learn on the campus must all get vaccinated. The intent, the administrators said, is to help the college safely return to more normal, in-person classes.

“Scientific research tells us that vaccination of the vast majority of our community will provide the best possible protection against COVID-19,” Patton wrote in a statement to the college community. “We expect that once most individuals are vaccinated, we will be able to relax restrictions, move away from testing and capacity limits, and resume more activities and events.”

Like other Vermont colleges that plan to take similar steps, Middlebury may grant individual exemptions for religious or medical reasons.

Saint Michael’s College, Norwich University and Champlain College, which have all previously said they will expect students to be vaccinated, also said they will offer exemptions.