Connecticut's Wesleyan University is Requiring COVID Booster Shots. Will Others Follow Suit?

Wesleyan University in Connecticut is one of the first colleges to require COVID-19 booster shots for those on campus this spring, reports National Public Radio. The 3,000-student liberal arts college held its first booster vaccine clinic on campus tlast week.

"There's no good reason to hesitate," Dr. Michael Roth, the president of Wesleyan University, told NPR. "Some people don't like to be first. But in this case, being first for public health doesn't seem to be a particularly risky place to be."

Whether to follow Wesleyan's lead remains a question for other college and university administrators, many of whom (such as leaders at Duke University and Rutgers University) are encouraging, but not requiring, that students receive boosters. According to NPR, those decisions may depend on whether the CDC updates its definition of "fully vaccinated" to include booster shots too.