Franklin Pierce University to require COVID-19 vaccinations for faculty and staff

Franklin Pierce University has expanded its COVID-19 vaccination requirement to include faculty and staff as part of its reopening plan for the fall semester.

The university announced a week ago that returning students would be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine if they wanted to be on campus for the fall, a decision that President Kim Mooney said was due to a desire to ensure the health and safety of the campus.

The decision to expand the requirement to faculty and staff was based on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, according to the university’s Director of Human Resources and Risk Management, Dawn Broussard.

“Since March 2020, we have seen a myriad of developments in the fight against COVID-19, including updates to the guidance by both local and federal health agencies,” Broussard said. “We strongly believe the decision to require a COVID-19 vaccination, which was made in consultation with local, state, and federal public health guidance, is the best way to protect the health and wellbeing of our community.”

Broussard also said that Franklin Pierce’s policy is not isolated, as many other colleges and universities have implemented similar requirements. Other New Hampshire institutions, such as UNH and Keene State College, have yet to announce similar plans.

“Faculty and staff are supportive of our efforts to protect the overall health and wellness of our community,” said Marissa Colcord, Assistant Vice President of University Communications and Marketing. 

Colcord added that additional guidelines for the fall semester are currently under review by the administration and will be announced in the coming weeks.

The vaccination requirement was welcomed by Rindge’s Emergency Management Director Rickard Donovan. 

“I think it’ll be a good thing, knowing that people are [vaccinated] and helps contain the spread of COVID,” Donovan said. 

Donovan also praised the university for its handling of the COVID-19 crisis in the first place, saying that their efforts to test students and provide quarantine as necessary were “awesome.”

“I think they did a phenomenal job in trying to contain and control the spread, so I think this is just an add-on to what they were doing,” Donovan said.