Dear UMBC Community,
Today the University System of Maryland announced that it will require COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible students, faculty, and staff who will be on a Maryland campus in Fall 2021.
We are encouraged by this decision because we agree with Chancellor Perman that “Mandating a COVID vaccine is the most effective strategy we have” and that if we want to have students return to campus, “then we have to do everything we can to protect [our] safety.”
We also understand that there are additional details related to this requirement that need to be determined and communicated, including how we will accommodate medical and religious exceptions.
UMBC will host a virtual vaccine information session with medical experts and share suggestions on making vaccine appointments this afternoon, Friday, April 23 at 3 p.m. All are welcome to attend; login details are available here.
University Health Services has been approved to administer vaccines on campus for community members and is awaiting doses. We currently do not know when the doses will be available and will notify our community when they are. In the meantime, as vaccine availability in Maryland has increased dramatically, we encourage each of you to seek vaccination. We are preparing to launch a system to collect and verify vaccine information from community members and hope to share this and a detailed timeline next week. We ask for your patience as we develop and test new systems.
Thank you for your continued commitment to keeping our community safe and healthy. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us at covid19@umbc.edu.
President Freeman Hrabowski and Provost Philip Rous