Readout of Meeting with Colleges and Universities on Monkeypox and COVID- 19 Guidance for Safe Return to Campus

Yesterday, members of the White House Monkeypox and COVID-19 response teams, as well as representatives from the CDC, met virtually with college presidents, campus health officials, and student affairs professionals from across the country to discuss best practices and measures for colleges and universities to take to curb the spread of Monkeypox and COVID-19. The virtual meeting included over 1,000 stakeholders from the higher education community, with additional participation via livestream. Federal officials offered practical guidance on how to keep higher education institutions safe this fall, including strategies colleges can use to identify and stop the spread of Monkeypox, and answered questions on how to respond to incidents of Monkeypox and communicate clearly to students on vaccines, testing, and treatments. The discussion also focused on the need for colleges and universities to encourage students, staff, and faculty to remain up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines, including planning to get campus communities boosted with the upcoming, updated vaccines this fall, pending FDA and CDC decisions. Today, the CDC also launched a new landing page for college and universities and students with resources around Monkeypox.