It’s insane that colleges still mandate vaccines

By Yasmina Palumbo and Lucia Sinatra

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After several rounds of submissions to MSM publications, this version of our essay was edited and published by the New York Post on their Website on Sunday, 2/19/2023 and in their printed newspaper on Monday, 2/20/2023. Our original submission (with active links) is posted first below and next is the edited version which was published by the New York Post. Keep reading to the very end to see the new title they gave the print version that was published yesterday. The title (which we were not allowed to pick) could not be more perfect.

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So, there we have it, mainstream headlines all around America announced yesterday that natural immunity offers better protection than vaccinations. This “news” was based on Thursday’s Lancet study, not the groundbreaking Israeli study that confirmed the same back in August 2021…

Three years in, reluctance to let go of the COVID-19 emergency and outdated narratives exists at every level of bureaucracy, from news media, to city government, to colleges, and cultural institutions on down. It took an ultimatum by way of the “Pandemic is Over Act” in January to finally force the President’s hand – and even then, he only begrudgingly announced an end to the COVID-19 emergency to mark on our calendars, months in the future in May.

Parents have come to understand that the greatest burden of lingering pandemic restrictions and falsehoods has fallen on the young. For college students in the United States, campuses feel forever altered under the weight of the ubiquitous refrain “to keep the community safe.” Some professors still reserve the right to mask their classes or move classes online entirely. And many colleges continue to have COVID-19 vaccine and booster mandates firmly in place, even though the overwhelming majority of college students have already acquired natural immunity and are among the least vulnerable population of Americans.

The graduating class of 2023 has hardly known the freedoms older generations enjoyed –exuberant and unrestricted socializing, uninhibited intellectual debates, or the freedom to choose whether to take an experimental medical intervention. Is it any wonder college enrollment is down? CUNY just reported a significant decline of 9%.

While many were willing to accept a temporary suspension of rights when little was known about this mysterious virus, there has been a dramatic shift in public opinion of late. Even those who advocated for vaccine mandates and lockdowns now talk of “pandemic amnesty,” quietly turning their attention to unintended consequences of the pandemic response instead.

But bureaucracy lags far behind public opinion. It has its own invisible set of rules, operating at its own speed, irrespective of common sense, critical thinking, or harmful impact. College COVID-19 vaccine mandates are a glaring example of this phenomenon - no matter the intention, vaccine mandates simply don’t work to protect the community. How could they if the vaccines don’t prevent transmission? Nonetheless they are stubbornly the norm in New York and the rest of the Northeast.

One of the most outrageous COVID-19 vaccine college mandates is SUNY’s policy. Shockingly, it only applies to students. The older, more vulnerable faculty and staff are not similarly required to take theexperimental vaccines, making it one of the most egregious and legally questionable vaccine mandates still standing.

SUNY’s policy continues to affect over a million students, at little risk of serious COVID-19 complications. The elephant in the room is that these vaccines, like all medical interventions, are not without risk. So why are we still doing this? Last February, it was confirmed that a SUNY student succumbed to vaccine related myocarditis after he was forced to take the vaccine to stay enrolled. Tragedies like this must not go ignoredand should have been enough to call mandates in to question long ago.

Both risk of myocarditis in young men and menstrual cycle irregularities in women are recognized side effects of the vaccines that were not fully known when the vaccines were first made available. What else will we discover in hindsight, and who will be liable?

Students and parents have struggled to have our voices heard but in a positive move, at least one university in New York has listened to our concerns. RIT recently dropped its COVID-19 vaccine mandate stating that “while COVID-19 is present in our community, it has evolved into a milder illness with significantly less risk to the general population.” This refreshing return to common sense makes SUNY’s 2023 spring guidance look even more ridiculous than ever.

Of all the lessons learned from the pandemic, the greatest is how fragile our civil liberties are. We have witnessed a relentless encroachment on every civil liberty we’ve ever taken for granted, up to and including the right to education and bodily autonomy.

Even with the pandemic over, the FDA is allowed to continue to issue emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines and tests. We have no idea what any of this means for the end of college mandates, but we do know that after three long years, we have had enough. Students and parents will no longer be silenced. We demand that college bureaucrats end their reckless and outdated COVID-19 policies now, or we will support the colleges that do.

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Reposted from the New York Post

If college bureaucrats aren't willing to end their reckless and outdated COVID-19 policies now, parents will shift their support to colleges that do. Getty Images

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Headlines last week declared natural immunity better protection than vaccines, based on a Lancet study Thursday that backed up a groundbreaking Israeli study from . . . August 2021. Yet vaccine mandates continue to block a full return to normalcy, and it’s taking a particularly hard toll on college kids.

Three years in — and well after COVID ceased to be a deadly, nationwide threat — many institutions are still reluctant to let go of pandemic restrictions. Parents have come to see how those lingering rules have hit the young especially hard. For college students, campuses feel forever altered under the weight of the ubiquitous refrain “to keep the community safe.”

Some professors, for instance, still mask their classes or move them online. Many colleges continue to have vaccine and booster mandates in place, though the overwhelming majority of students have already acquired natural immunity and are among the least vulnerable population of Americans.

The graduating class of 2023 has hardly known the freedoms older generations enjoyed — exuberant and unrestricted socializing, in-person intellectual debates and, of course, the freedom to choose whether to take an experimental medical intervention. Is it any wonder college enrollment is down? CUNY just reported a decline of 9%.

While many were willing to accept a temporary suspension of rights when little was known about this mysterious virus, there has been a dramatic shift in public opinion of late. Even those who advocated for vaccine mandates and lockdowns now talk of “pandemic amnesty,” quietly turning their attention to unintended consequences of the pandemic response instead.

Some professors still encourage masks in their classroom or move them online. Boston Globe via Getty Images

But bureaucracy lags far behind. It operates at its own speed, regardless of common sense, critical thinking or harmful impact. College vaccine mandates are a glaring example of this phenomenon; after all, vaccine mandates are simply not effective in protecting the community. How could they be if they don’t prevent transmission? Nonetheless, they remain stubbornly the norm in New York and elsewhere.

One of the most outrageous college mandates can be found on SUNY campuses. Shockingly, it only applies to students: Older, more vulnerable faculty and staff are not required to take vaccines, making it one of the most egregious and legally questionable mandates still standing.

SUNY’s policy affects over a million students, who are at little risk of serious COVID-19 complications. And like all medical interventions, the vaccines aren’t without risk.

So why are we still doing this? In 2021, a SUNY student succumbed to vaccine-related myocarditis after he was forced to take the vaccine to stay enrolled. Tragedies like this must not go ignored and should have been enough to call mandates into question long ago.

Risk of myocarditis in young men and menstrual cycle irregularities in women are recognized side effects of the vaccines that weren’t fully known when they were first made available. What else will we discover in hindsight, and who will be liable?

Many universities are lightening up on their COVID-19 policies, but some like SUNY remain strict. Getty Images

Students and parents have struggled to have our voices heard, and at least one university in New York has listened. Rochester Institute of Technology recently dropped its vaccine mandate, noting that “while COVID-19 is present in our community, it has evolved into a milder illness with significantly less risk to the general population.” This refreshing return to common sense makes SUNY’s 2023 spring guidance look even more ridiculous than ever.

Of all the lessons from the pandemic, the greatest is how fragile our civil liberties are. We have witnessed a relentless encroachment on every civil liberty we’ve ever taken for granted, up to and including the right to education and bodily autonomy.

Even with the pandemic clearly over, the FDA continues to issue emergency-use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines and tests. We have no idea what any of this means for college mandates, but we do know that after three long years, we have had enough. Students and parents will no longer be silenced. If college bureaucrats aren’t willing to end their reckless and outdated COVID-19 policies now, parents will shift their support to colleges that do.

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Lucia Sinatra, an advocate fighting inequities facing students with learning disabilities in California, co-founded NoCollegeMandates to put an end to college vaccine mandates.

Yasmina Palumbo, a mother of two public-school children in Manhattan, is an advocate for civil rights and pandemic-response accountability.

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