The iconic founding year wall at Emory University's gateway entrance on the roundabout at Dowman Drive and North Decatur Road. (source: Emory U.)
The iconic founding year wall at Emory University's gateway entrance on the roundabout at Dowman Drive and North Decatur Road. (source: Emory U.)

Emory University mandates vaccine boosters

Mark Gresham | 18 DEC 2021

Atlanta, GA— On Thursday, Emory University, Georgia’s largest private university, announced its decision to require all students, faculty, and staff at its Atlanta and Oxford campuses to receive a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine by January 19.

In a December 16 letter to the Emory University community, president Gregory L. Fenves wrote that the school “has been closely monitoring increases in COVID-19 cases and the spread of the Omicron variant, as well as guidance from the CDC and public health experts. Vaccines are the most powerful tool to protect the health of our community against COVID-19, […] The booster is the next step in an evolving public health strategy that has seen us adapt to every new development in the pandemic to continue the learning, teaching, and discovery that define Emory.”

On the same day, the University posted the following on its Twitter account:

Emory is not alone among institutions of higher learning to make the move. Other private universities such as Notre Dame, Syracuse University, Northeastern University and Wesleyan University are among them, as are public universities such as University of Michigan, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the University of New Mexico. On Wednesday, New York University went as far as canceling all non-academic events and encouraging professors to move finals online.

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Emory’s announcement came one day after news that The Metropolitan Opera will require that all staff, artists and audiences have received vaccine boosters. While Emory will require boosters of all staff, faculty and students, it makes no mention of visitors to the campus who attend public events, such as persons attending concerts at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

On Friday, EarRelevant reached out to Emory University and the Schwartz Center with that question. Here is what we have learned:

  • The Schwartz Center will continue its COVID Compliance requirements as they currently stand unless the University requests an update to protocols for guests attending indoor events.
  • Patrons attending events at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts must provide proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results. Any changes to this requirement will be posted on the Schwartz Center website.

Given uncertain dynamics of COVID-19 at this time, any venue’s protocols for audiences could possibly change at any time. Different venues may have different COVID-safety requirements. Best practice for the public is to check first with each venue in advance of attending an event. ■

Mark Gresham

Mark Gresham is publisher and principal writer of EarRelevant. he began writing as a music journalist over 30 years ago, but has been a composer of music much longer than that. He was the winner of an ASCAP/Deems Taylor Award for music journalism in 2003.