Its now clear that the government is considering mandatory vaccinations to access certain things such as nightclubs, and perhaps even certain areas of student activities.
I think it is clear that covid & university halls of residence do not mix well, last year you were only supposed to be able to do rule of 6 outdoors, but it soon became apparent covid was running rife (and this was the original Wuhan Strain). I think we may see a similar uptick this year with the delta variant and lack of social restrictions. It is a very difficult position because the vaccinations are working wonders however they are not perfect and their is still a very large unvaccinated population in the under 30s (which is the student demographic).
Im not sure how I feel about the government 'forcing' vaccines on people but I am ok with organisations & universities mandating it for things such as if you want to live in halls. I would go further, it would be great if universities did require vaccines to access the university/SU sponsored social events; I think the government should use leverage & influence to encourage universities to adopt this policy (ideally before results day, but I think the news will drop last minute)
Now I would still have a vaccine opt out pathway, something like mandatory 2/3 covid tests every week if you are unvaccinated & in halls or on campus (and it would be needed anyway as it is quickly becoming too late for students to get both doses). I also would like to see universities having pop-up vaccination centres at registration/freshers fair that would be a really good way to encourage uptake.