Universities, colleges taking varied approaches to COVID-19 as students set to return to campus – CBC

Grab bag of measures, from mask and booster shot mandates to encouragement

Aug 26, 2022

Early this week, Western University in London, Ont., announced an updated vaccine requirement — mandating a primary series of shots plus one booster for everyone returning to campus — along with resuming masking indoors for the fall.

The news garnered an immediate reaction from students.

Ethan Gardner, president of Western’s University Students’ Council, has been fielding a barrage of communications from his peers. While some are upset with the timing — “They feel like it was short notice for the upcoming school year” — others have protested “the consistency of the announcements over the last year, including this summer,” he said.

“Some students just want a definitive reasoning as to why this decision was made, backed by some body of science.”

As students make their way onto Canadian post-secondary campuses for a new term, some may be facing starkly different pandemic protocols than when they last left.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/universities-colleges-campus-return-policies-1.6560643