Johns Hopkins University lifts COVID-19 vaccine requirement

Johns Hopkins leaders announced today that the university will continue to strongly encourage but no longer require faculty, staff, and students to receive at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

JHU will continue to require all faculty, staff, and students to receive the seasonal flu vaccine. Employees at Johns Hopkins Medicine, the School of Nursing, and Applied Physics Laboratory are subject to their respective policies and procedures regarding COVID and influenza vaccination. School of Medicine affiliates follow JHM policies and procedures.

In a message to the university community, the leaders wrote that the COVID vaccine policy change is effective immediately and aligns with current guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.
"COVID-19 remains a serious illness, and we must continue to be diligent to prevent the spread of the virus," wrote Provost Ray Jayawardhana, Vice Provost and Chief Risk Officer Jon Links, Vice Provost for Student Health and Wellbeing Kevin Shollenberger, and Interim Vice President of Human Resources Meredith Stewart. "Those who are up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines have lower risk of severe illness, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 than those who are unvaccinated or have received only the primary series. Updated COVID-19 boosters can help restore protection that has decreased since previous vaccination."

The Johns Hopkins University Health Advisory Group will include the COVID-19 vaccine in its annual review process as the administration continues to closely monitor public health conditions and could reinstate vaccination requirements and other preventative measures in the future.

Affiliates who test positive for COVID should follow the updated CDC guidelines. Normal activities can be resumed once symptoms are improving and patients have been fever-free—without the aid of fever-reducing medications—for at least 24 hours. Extra precautions should be taken during the five days after resuming normal activities.