UMass Dartmouth announced Tuesday that all students and staff returning to campus for spring semester will be required to to get a Covid-19 booster shot prior to the start of Spring Semester on Jan. 18.

Citing increasing Covid cases across the community and the emergence of the omicron variant, university officials are encouraging everyone make an appointment and get your booster shot as soon as possible over the winter break.

The university expects students who are not yet eligible for a booster shot to obtain one within 30 days of becoming eligible.

Students who were granted vaccination exemptions for the fall semester will remain exempt from this requirement. 

Students are eligible to get a booster six months after receiving the second dose of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or two months after receiving the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Centers for Disease Control recommendations allow for mixing and matching of different booster doses.

According to university data as of Dec. 13, 95.17% of students and 96.54% and staff at the Dartmouth campus are fully vaccinated against the virus.

For additional precaution, UMass Dartmouth will require all students and staff to be tested on campus for Covid-19 upon arrival from winter break.

All residential students will be tested at the university’s testing center in the Woodland Commons on arrival. Commuter students will be tested on the day of their first class.

Additionally, UMass Dartmouth’s mask mandate will remain in effect inside all university buildings.

“We want you to have a safe and healthy new year – please get your booster shot as soon as you are eligible, wear your mask indoors in public places, and wash your hands often,” university officials wrote in a letter to students.