{"id":49654,"date":"2021-06-28T11:52:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T15:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=49654"},"modified":"2021-06-29T07:22:18","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T11:22:18","slug":"emu-joins-national-college-vaccine-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/emu-joins-national-college-vaccine-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU joins national College Vaccine Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Eastern Mennonite University has joined more than 650 colleges and universities, including 18 Virginia institutions, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/covidcollegechallenge\/\">COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge<\/a>. The initiative, created in a partnership of the White House and the U.S. Department of Education, aims to increase the rate of vaccination among students, faculty and staff within campus communities around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In joining the challenge, EMU has committed to three key actions that include engaging every campus community member through communication and messaging, organizing their college community; and providing vaccine access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJoining this nationwide effort is just one step we can make here to signal the importance of increasing the rate of vaccinations among our campus community,\u201d said President <strong>Susan Schultz Huxman<\/strong>. \u201cThe more students, faculty and staff who are vaccinated, the better our opportunity to create a safe and healthy learning environment in the fall so that all of our students can focus fully on their education and enjoy campus life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>EMU has hosted one vaccine clinic and will host another July 7, open to all community members, in partnership with RMH Sentara. To find a location near you to receive a free COVID-19 vaccine, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaccines.gov\/\">https:\/\/www.vaccines.gov\/<\/a>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The university announced in early June that all students attending classes in-person at the main campus in Harrisonburg, Va., would be required to show proof of vaccination for COVID-19 before arriving on campus or beginning classes for the fall semester 2021, or to file a <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/studentlife\/health\/docs\/vaccine-waiver.pdf\">waiver<\/a> on medical, religious or philosophical grounds. For more information, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/coronavirus\">www.emu.edu\/coronavirus<\/a>\/vaccinations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to a survey conducted in the spring, more than 80 percent of EMU\u2019s faculty and staff are fully vaccinated. Nearly 400 EMU students are fully vaccinated, according to data collected earlier this summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVaccines have been shown effective at preventing serious illness and death and to be effective against variants, including this new Delta variant we\u2019re seeing hit our younger unvaccinated population especially hard,\u201d said Director of Health Services <strong>Irene Kniss<\/strong>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The highly transmissible Delta variant is newly listed as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/06\/15\/health\/delta-variant-of-concern-cdc-coronavirus\/index.html\">\u201cvariant of concern\u201d<\/a> by the CDC, and is particularly affecting unvaccinated populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kniss said students are already required to have several other vaccinations before arriving on campus. Adding the COVID vaccine is a step towards maintaining optimal health levels for all, especially on a residential college campus, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a high percentage of those on campus this fall are vaccinated, Kniss added, \u201cthat substantially lowers our collective risk and allows us more flexibility in how we respond to COVID-19 this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kniss is one of several EMU staff and administrators currently developing fall 2021 opening plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On-campus mandates for masking and social distancing were lifted when Virginia governor Ralph Northam lifted emergency restrictions earlier this summer. Following CDC guidelines, those who are unvaccinated are asked to wear a mask and practice social distancing on campus and in buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The university will announce COVID mitigation measures in August, as more data is available about the total numbers of vaccinated campus community members. Masking and social distancing and other public health protocols may be put in place, depending on vaccination rates and indicators of disease prevalence in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Three area universities have also joined the initiative, including Bridgewater College, James Madison University, and Mary Baldwin University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eastern Mennonite University has joined more than 650 colleges and universities, including 18 Virginia institutions, in the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge. The initiative, created in a partnership of the White <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/emu-joins-national-college-vaccine-challenge\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about EMU joins national College Vaccine Challenge<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5583,14715,17562],"tags":[],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-49654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-digest","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EMU joins national College Vaccine Challenge - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2021\/emu-joins-national-college-vaccine-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMU joins national College Vaccine Challenge - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Eastern Mennonite University has joined more than 650 colleges and universities, including 18 Virginia institutions, in the COVID-19 College Vaccine Challenge. 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