Some U.S. Colleges Reluctant To Require Students of COVID Vaccine
UNLV Medicine medical assistant Delicia Sullivan (L) administers a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination to UNLV School of Nursing student Arianna Nicole at UNLV on January 12, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada. UNLV officials established the vaccination center on campus yesterday and plan to open another one next week at College of Southern Nevada in Henderson, Nevada, to distribute about 1,000 doses a week at each location to the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) schools. The first vaccinations are going to front-line health care staff, including members of the UNLV medical, dental and nursing schools, people who see patients and university police officers. After that, plans are to vaccinate employees who work on campus, remaining NSHE staff and students living in on-campus housing, followed by the remaining student body and possibly the public. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

U.S. colleges are partial in their decision whether to require their students to get COVID vaccines in efforts to return to normalcy.

Some universities, including Rutgers, Brown, Cornell, and Northeastern, recently announced that they will require their student to be vaccinated before returning to campus.

These U.S. colleges say they hoped to achieve herd immunity on their respective campuses, which would allow them to loosen some COVID restrictions, according to an Associated Press report.

However, some U.S. colleges are reluctant to impose the same requirement on their students, while others believe they cannot legally require vaccinations.

Such is the case at Virginia Tech. The campus said that U.S. Food and Drug Administration has only approved the use of emergency use of vaccines but has not entirely given its full permit.

Meanwhile, legal experts say that institutions are within their legal rights to require COVID vaccines to their students before returning.

However, schools are required by law to exempt students from medical and religious beliefs, according to a CBS News report.

Harvard Law professor Glenn Cohen said that there is no legal reason that college institutions would not be allowed to impose COVID vaccination requirements.

Cohen teaches health law and bioethics at Harvard Law.

U.S. Colleges Requiring COVID Vaccines

Some college institutions that will be requiring their students to be immunized are Cornell and Northeastern. Both institutions said their students will be asked to show proof of vaccination.

Cornell's students would be provided the card at their vaccination site. Northeastern officials are still deliberating whether students will have to provide a medical record proving they were vaccinated, or students would be allowed to attest if they are immunized.

"We would expect students to be honest and forthright about any attestation they make to the university," Kenneth Henderson, the chancellor of Northeastern University, was quoted in a report.

Brown University has already announced intentions to require students the vaccine. Dr. Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, announced the decision in a tweet.

Rutgers University, Fort Lewis College, Nova Southeastern University, and St. Edward's University are following the steps of Brown.

Some institutions, such as Dartmouth College, are waiting for vaccines to become more widely available before issuing a decision regarding the matter.

The spokesperson for Darthmouth, Diana Lawrence, said they cannot require it until doses are available for all students.

However, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott have both issued executive orders prohibiting vaccine passports in the two states, according to an Independent report.

"Government should not require any Texan to show proof of vaccination and reveal private health information just to go about their daily lives," Abbott was quoted in a report.

Abbott noted that they will continue vaccination efforts in the state, but they will do so without affecting the public's personal freedoms.

Meanwhile, DeSantis said last week that the state will not force anyone to receive a vaccine.

Vaccine passports have become a partisan issue, with Republicans noting that they were against requiring a dose of the vaccine, as it affects someone's personal freedoms.

WATCH: Universities Debating Whether to Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines - from NBC Bay Area