These Are the Colleges Requiring Vaccine Boosters Now
Credit: PeopleImages / E+ / Getty Images- BestColleges found fewer than 50 schools nationwide that require the COVID-19 bivalent booster.
- Wake Forest University and Bowdoin College were some of the first schools to embrace the bivalent booster in 2022.
- President Joe Biden ended the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies earlier this year.
While some colleges and universities are dropping COVID-19 vaccination requirements, others still require that students get the initial vaccination series along with a bivalent booster or that they get just one booster shot.
BestColleges found schools that either require students get the bivalent booster to replace the original monovalent vaccination series or that they be up to date on COVID-19 vaccines and boosters according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
President Joe Biden signed a bill that led to the end of the COVID-19 national and public health emergencies earlier this year. Before then, many colleges that had required the original vaccine reversed their requirements for a booster as the pandemic became more endemic.
Once Biden signed the bill, many colleges removed COVID-19 vaccine requirements altogether for the 2023-2024 school year. Some, however, told students that since COVID-19 is still present, they are requiring the booster vaccine and encouraged students to receive the new booster released in September.
The new booster targeting the COVID-19 EG.5 “eris” variant, the most prevalent variant over the summer, has been released. However, Politico reported that the World Health Organization has not labeled the predominant variant as concerning.
Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Bowdoin College in Maine were among the first colleges to embrace bivalent booster shots in 2022. Now, they no longer require any COVID-19 vaccinations.
BestColleges has been tracking schools that require COVID-19 bivalent boosters in the updated list below.
Colleges Requiring COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Shots
Last Updated: October 17, 2023, at 3:27 P.M. EST
CALIFORNIA | COLORADO | CONNECTICUT | DELAWARE | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | FLORIDA | GEORGIA | ILLINOIS | INDIANA | MASSACHUSETTS | NEW JERSEY | NEW YORK | NORTH DAKOTA | OHIO | OREGON | PENNSYLVANIA | SOUTH CAROLINA | TENNESSEE | TEXAS | VERMONT | VIRGINIA
California
- American Jewish University
- California College of the Arts
- Dominican University of California
- Pitzer College
- Saint Mary’s College of California
- Santa Clara University
- SCU requires the COVID-19 primary series plus a booster or one dose of the bivalent/updated vaccine.
- University of San Francisco
- University of the West
Georgia
- Agnes Scott College
- Morehouse College
Illinois
- Rush University
- Saint Augustine College
Indiana
- DePauw University
Massachusetts
- Harvard University
- This may be through the initial primary series of COVID-19 vaccination or one of the most recent COVID-19 boosters.
- Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
- Wellesley College
New Jersey
- Rutgers University
- On the Camden, Brunswick, Newark campuses: One updated bivalent booster replaces requirements for original doses. Clinical students must receive one updated bivalent booster or the original COVID-19 monovalent vaccination series plus a monovalent or bivalent booster.
New York
- Bank Street College of Education
- Bard College
- Bard requires all students, faculty, and staff to have up-to-date immunization against COVID-19 as per current CDC guidelines.
- Jewish Theological Seminary of America
- The Juilliard School
- Juilliard requires all members of the Juilliard community — students, faculty, and staff, to have completed an original primary COVID-19 vaccine series or one dose of an updated bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.
Ohio
- Methodist Theological School in Ohio
- Oberlin College and Conservatory
- The College of Wooster
Oregon
- Reed College
Pennsylvania
- Cabrini University
- Haverford College
- Salus University
- Seton Hill University
- COVID-19 Vaccine: primary series plus one booster or one Bivalent COVID Vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna).
- University of Pittsburgh
- Bradford, Greensburg, Johnstown, Pittsburgh Campus, Titusville
- To be fully vaccinated an individual must have completed a primary COVID-19 series of vaccine doses as authorized or approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or World Health Organization (WHO) or have received a bivalent COVID-19 vaccine.
South Carolina
- Wofford College
Tennessee
- American Baptist College
Texas
- Seminary of the Southwest
Vermont
- Landmark College
- Two doses of the original monovalent vaccine plus one booster (monovalent or bivalent), or:
A single dose of the updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 bivalent vaccine.
- Two doses of the original monovalent vaccine plus one booster (monovalent or bivalent), or:
Virginia
- Sweet Briar College
Note that this list covers COVID-19 vaccine requirements for 2023-2024 on-campus or residential students and does not specify individual university policies such as vaccine exemptions. Some colleges may require all students, regardless of their residential status, to get vaccinated. Faculty and staff vaccine requirements may be different from the residential student requirements listed above.
Don’t see your school on this list? Reach out to contact@support.bestcolleges.com if your college or university still requires the COVID-19 vaccine. Please include the relevant vaccine page link or email.