Dear Acadia campus community members,
Recent messages from federal and provincial public health officials have been encouraging and clear – the COVID-19 vaccine will allow us to be together safely sooner.
I am pleased to report that Acadia has recently approved a vaccination policy for students and employees. While vaccination is not mandatory, it is strongly recommended, and we are striving to reach a fully vaccinated campus community status.
Our goal is for our campus to remain a safe place to work and study, so we are aiming to exceed the provincial levels of vaccination participation in hopes of being able to reduce restrictions on campus further.
The University recognizes that not everyone can or will be completely vaccinated before returning to campus in September, so recommended health and safety measures like mask wearing, regular testing, and physical distancing remain in place for the time being.
We will continue to work with public health officials to implement our comprehensive vaccination policy, including providing quarantine support, testing, and access to vaccinations after arrival.
Survey Says
To best protect the health and safety of our campus community, we will soon ask that you respond to a community-wide survey. The University will use your anonymous responses to understand, in general terms, the vaccination status of our campus. We will also be conducting a detailed survey of incoming residence students to assess their vaccination status.
Working together means being together, faster
To encourage vaccination, Acadia will participate in a cross-Canada social media campaign, Faster Together, that encourages people of all age groups to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Spark Advocacy, Abacus Data, and the Canadian Labour Congress led and developed the cross-sector collaborative project.
Acadia joins hundreds of organizations, including several sister institutions and Universities Canada, as a partner in Faster Together. The campaign amplifies the message shared by Nova Scotia Public Health that the more people in our communities who are vaccinated, the more quickly we can return to ‘normal life’ with fewer restrictions.
Over the summer, we will develop customized campaign materials that showcase pre-pandemic events and activities at Acadia as part of the social media campaign. Please be sure to like and share our posts to help get the word out.
We want to return to the kind of learning and working environment for which Acadia is renowned. All of this promise depends on having high levels of fully vaccinated members of our community.
Thank you for all that you are doing to support our fall 2021 return to campus.
Stay well and see you soon!
