Booster Mandate Issued for New York’s Public University Students

As I said, we are expecting a plan — a surge after the holidays. It’s here. And tonight, New Year’s Eve, for everyone saying, ‘I cannot wait to say goodbye to 2021’ — they will be gathering. We know this. So what are we going to do and why are we even doing a 2.0? Because the virus is changing so quickly. And we’re issuing new guidance for SUNY and CUNY schools for the spring semester. We are asking all schools to ensure that students before they return are boosted. And this will be part of the reopening. They have to be boosted when they’re eligible. Again, we understand that students who were just vaccinated within the last six months are not eligible for the booster. This takes effect on Jan. 15. It’s a continuation of policy we had for that, but also now we’re adding faculty, adding faculty to the list of individuals who will need to be vaccinated. We now know that the masks are important, they’re an important line of defense. We have had a requirement that businesses throughout the state have to have a mask requirement or a vaccine requirement. It was going to expire on Jan. 15. I want to give everybody the heads-up that this will continue just two more weeks beyond what we had originally planned. Again, being very willing to reassess, hoping that the picture is much more positive in February. But again, we just don’t have that information right now, but this is another part of our 2.0 plan.