Leaders of academic medical institutions, including historically Black and Hispanic-serving institutions, are addressing issues of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in their communities through research and personal outreach.

Experts point to a wide range of reasons for higher rates of vaccine hesitancy among Blacks and Hispanics, including the medical profession’s sorry legacy of mistreatment of Black people, the fear vaccination could be used for immigration enforcement purposes, and the inequities minority communities continue to face in terms of access to health care.

How are colleges and universities handling the 2021 spring semester during the pandemic? Some have shifted their start dates, while others plan to continue with remote learning. Several will offer both in-person and remote options.

College leaders from three different institutions in New York reflect on plans for the spring semester, including access to courses, testing protocols, dorm life, and more. 

Last fall, universities were accused of enabling the pandemic’s spread by bringing back students who then endangered local residents, mingling with them in bars, stores, and apartments. So the University of California, Davis is trying something different: providing free testing, masks, and quarantine housing to tens of thousands of people who live nearby.

It has also trained dozens of graduate students to help with contact tracing and hired some 275 undergraduate ambassadors to combat health disinformation and hand out free masks.

Public health experts say the initiative is the most ambitious program of its type in the country and could be a model for other universities.