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I’m not fully vaccinated

The information below is a record of the Vaccination Policy requirements for McMaster students, faculty and staff (in effect as of October 18, 2021 and paused as of May 1, 2022).

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As of October 18, 2021, McMaster’s Vaccination Policy requires all students, faculty and staff to have uploaded proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 to MacCheck or have an approved human rights exemption.

If you have not uploaded proof of vaccination to MacCheck, you are not cleared to come to McMaster unless you have an approved human rights exemption. 

This means that you cannot attend campus or a McMaster-affiliated site for any reason, including but not limited to: 

  • Attending an in-person class 
  • Attending your place of work 
  • Visiting the library 
  • Attending an appointment or using a service 
  • Going to a campus eatery 
  • Attending a meeting on campus 
  • Using the gym or athletic facilities 

This also means that there may be impacts on your course or program progression for students and employment status for faculty and staff.  

If you are fully vaccinated but missed the deadline to upload, please upload your proof of vaccination to MacCheck immediately. This applies to staff, students and faculty who are working on-site or remotely. You are not cleared to come to McMaster until you do so. 

Vaccination exemption information

New staff and faculty are required to provide proof of vaccination or to have an approved human rights-based exemption in place upon hire. As a result, any staff or faculty who are requesting a human rights – based exemption should submit their request as soon as possible, prior to their start date, to allow the University to review their request. More information is available on how to submit a request here:

Exemptions can be requested for protected grounds under the Ontario Human Rights Code, which includes medical conditions. Exemptions will only be granted when substantively linked to a human rights ground with accompanying documentation. 

Wondering what’s considered a medical exemption? Check out this article for some insight from a medical expert. 

Steps for requesting an exemption on medical grounds: 

  1. Complete part 1 of the exemption request form and ask your physician to complete part 2.
  2. Submit the completed form to a secure and confidential MacDrive upload link via:
  3. You may be asked to provide further information.
  4. *If you haven’t already accessed MacCheck, please simply login to allow for processing of your exemption request form

Steps for requesting an exemption on non-medical grounds: 

  1. Submit the completed form to the Vaccination Validation Team at vacc@mcmaster.ca.
  2. You may be asked to provide further information.
  3. *If you haven’t already accessed MacCheck, please simply login to allow for processing of your exemption request form

*IMPORTANT – In order to process your exemption request form, you must login to MacCheck to activate your account.

No – while you are waiting for your exemption request review, you may not attend a McMaster location. If you have any questions about your application, please contact vacc@mcmaster.ca

It will take some time for the validation team to process and validate exemption requests. Please be patient. If you have questions about the exemption process, contact vacc@mcmaster.ca.