Students hoping to get vaccinated against COVID-19 this year may face an additional hurdle following the Food and Drug Administration’s Aug. 27 decision to revoke emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, which had made them widely available to the public.

The move, which comes amid increased federal scrutiny of vaccines, will likely force students to consult with a healthcare provider, who can then prescribe the vaccine to them. Student Health is working to determine how it can ensure continued broad availability of COVID-19 vaccines, said Chief Campus Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman in a briefing with campus media Sept. 9.

“What I would tell people who are interested in the [COVID-19] vaccine is to just hold tight,” Van Orman said.

Pfizer’s 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine formulations received FDA approval for adults 65 years and older and people ages 5 through 65 with preexisting health conditions that put them at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19, such as asthma or obesity. Novovax’s vaccine was approved for people 12 years and older at high risk, whereas Moderna’s vaccine was approved for high-risk individuals as young as 6 months old.

Most vaccines are available under “general guidance,” meaning one can get the vaccine without consulting with a healthcare provider first, according to Van Orman. Not falling under any of the aforementioned FDA approved groups for the new vaccine formulation means one will have to consult with and get a healthcare provider to prescribe the vaccine first, a process known as “off-label use.”

“Now we give vaccines and medications off-label all the time,” Van Orman said. “There’s nothing about this vaccine that’s substantially different, that’s substantially more risky or in any way should give anyone pause, about receiving [the 2025-2026 COVID-19 vaccine] versus the previous formulations.”

Professional organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Family Physicians have released statements reiterating that all children starting from 6 months old receive updated COVID-19 vaccines this fall, in spite of the shifting federal guidance.

The University regularly tests wastewater from 26 sewage junctions in 10 student residential buildings for SARS-CoV-2, influenza A and norovirus. The early warning system was originally implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic and has stuck around ever since.

Levels of influenza A and norovirus have remained minimal since late August, whereas two residential buildings — Pardee Tower and Cowlings and Ilium Residential College — have “very high” levels of SARS-CoV-2 according to tests performed Sept. 8.

“Beginning of the semester, these times of movement, migration on and off campus are times when we often see surges in respiratory illnesses,” Van Orman said. “We have a lot of people moving in from all over at a time when COVID-19 transmission is high, and they’re concentrating in shared living spaces.”

The herd immunity threshold — when enough of a population is immune to a disease that its transmission is seriously hindered — varies based on each virus and how effective vaccines are.

The exact percentage of the population needed to achieve herd immunity against COVID-19 is still not definitively known because it mutates so rapidly, according to Rochester Regional Health. Only 23% of adults and 13% of children took the 2024-25 COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

USC requires all students, unless granted a religious or medical exemption, to be vaccinated against four diseases: measles, mumps, chickenpox and meningococcal disease; the COVID-19 vaccine falls under a separate, “strongly recommended,” category.

Van Orman recommends hand-washing, not sharing drinking, food or smoking materials with others and refraining from touching one’s face to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Van Orman said the student body vaccination rates surpass the various herd immunity thresholds for measles, mumps and chickenpox.

To get a medical exemption approved, one must have a medical condition that the vaccine manufacturer, the FDA and other authoritative bodies all have agreed would make getting a vaccine ill advised, such as having a severe immunosuppressing condition, Van Orman said.

“We do sometimes get requests for medical exemptions that are based on other types of criteria that don’t align with the medical literature, and we will deny those … because we really want to pursue the medical exemption for someone who has a recognized medical condition,” Van Orman said.

But for religious exemptions, a “reasonable statement” will suffice.

“If somebody would like to submit a statement that states that either for religious or personal reasons they do not want to be vaccinated, then we will honor that,” Van Orman said. “That’s not really in our place to judge their religious or personal beliefs.”