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US colleges will require students to be vaccinated, despite state policies:
A growing number of US colleges have said all students must be fully vaccinated before returning to campus, in a move likely to anger some state governors. At least 14 colleges have said vaccination will be required so far, according to a CNN tally, and that number is expected to grow.
In late March Rutgers University became one of the first institutions to declare that having all students vaccinated will allow for an "expedited return to pre-pandemic normal."
Cornell, Brown, Notre Dame, Northeastern, Syracuse, Ithaca and Fort Lewis have made similar announcements, though all will make exceptions for medical or religious reasons. Cornell has also created an online registration tool so students and staff can register their vaccination status.
Two colleges, St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Broward, Florida, have gone a step further, requiring students and all campus employees to be vaccinated.
NSU's policy puts it on a collision course with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. After NSU's announcement on April 1 DeSantis signed an executive order stating that vaccines are available but not mandated. Crucially the order prohibits any government entity or business from requiring a vaccine passport. NSU said Thursday that it is reviewing the executive order.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Monday April 12 2021, @03:54PM
>It can be done. My wife and I...
Good on you. I've done much the same. But the landscape is changing rapidly. We locked down to buy time for a vaccine to be developed. And we did so. We won - or will have within a few months. Once everyone willing has been vaccinated we will be as close to total victory over this pandemic as it's reasonably possible to get.
> They have no right to put other people at risk because of their self destructive tendencies.
Unfortunately I don't see any other option.
With herd immunity not being an option, it's pretty inevitable that virtually everyone who's not immune will eventually catch COVID. The only question is just how quickly that happens. How many people do you know who've *never* caught a cold? And colds are mostly far less contagious.
Once you accept that as the unavoidable reality it dramatically changes the risk-analysis landscape. There's nothing left for us to do to significantly improve your odds of never catching COVID. Should we continue with this insanely expensive lockdown forever, in order to grant the involuntarily vulnerable a few more healthy months?
At least with a single massive surge those who can't get vaccinated for medical reasons, and those who remain concerned, can hope to isolate themselves for a few months until it's over. Continuing public precautions indefinitely could draw this out for years.
And by de-prioritizing medical care for voluntarily unvaccinated individuals we can ensure that there are resources available for those who became ill through bad luck rather than choice.
That said, I fully support private companies that choose to protect their employees by requiring customers to remain masked. I'd even consider keeping mask mandates in place for essential services like grocery stores that the vulnerable can't entirely avoid.
All the voluntary stuff though? Open it up. Let those who wish to live riskily do so. Maybe keep the augmented unemployment support going until the surge has petered out, so that we're not forcing people back into high-risk situations.