Disclaimer: The quotes of students have been edited for length and clarity. Some students have opted to remain anonymous whereas others have chosen to be named. Those who participated in the survey posted to Elizabethtown College’s Jays App will remain anonymous as their names were not collected. All opinions in this piece are entirely the speakers’ personal thoughts and opinions and do not reflect the values of the Etownian and the author of this article.
Going into the 20th month since the world shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 11th month of having an available vaccine against COVID-19, the push to vaccinate has started to slow down and the turn to send out boosters is starting to intensify. However, to mandate or not to mandate is the question on everyone’s mind.
President Joe Biden has already mandated that federal employees and businesses with 100 or more employees be vaccinated. Colleges and companies have jumped the gun, requiring their students, staff and employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to continue working or going to their respective school- or work- places.
Recently, the Etownian received a piece from a professor at Elizabethtown College calling for students and faculty to be vaccinated whether or not there is a vaccine mandate by the College.
We reached out to Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Director Keri Straub who said, “At this time, the College is not requiring the vaccine for employees or students. Currently, both our student and employee vaccination rates are over 80-percent as we have shared in our COVID-19 Campus Status e-newsletter. We continue to strongly encourage all members of the campus community to do their part in protecting our community by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. If all vaccine suppliers receive full FDA approval, the administration may revisit current vaccine recommendations. We appreciate the campus community’s continued compliance to keep our students, faculty, and staff healthy and safe.”
We also reached out to the Etown Community through the Jays App to gather their thoughts and opinions.
Out of 33 responses, 70 percent said that they would support a vaccine mandate at Etown.
“I think Etown should implement the vaccine mandate to help regain control of the virus that hasn’t gone away,” Hannah Skeenkamer, a student who requested to be interviewed, said.
Similar thoughts and feelings were shared in the comments of the survey. One student said, “Vaccines are an effective way to end this pandemic.”
Some students provided insight as to why they supported the vaccine mandate, such as Henry Nalker, who said, “I’m an immunocompromised person who has had a kidney transplant and I am more vulnerable to COVID[-19], even with both my shots and my booster.”
An anonymous student said, “The vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting the vaccine, but at least it prevents you from dying.”
Others brought up the misuse of masks on campus as a reason to promote the vaccine as one anonymous student reported that “students have been following the mask mandates very poorly in buildings, especially the library where they don’t seem to really be wearing them at all.” Across campus, students do seem to disregard mask-wearing indoors, even though it is one of the College’s current mandates as of the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester.
Another said, “These [masks] are the biggest thing we have to supplement the lack of vaccine mandates but it isn’t being followed.”
“I’ve seen plenty of people choosing not to wear masks recently, and knowing that everyone is vaccinated would at least make me feel a little bit better,” one more added.
Some brought up that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been FDA-approved and that the vaccine was well funded through private and public figures to develop the COVID-19 vaccines. Also, some have pointed out that the College requires other vaccinations to attend.
One said, “It’s not like this is a unique situation as far as vaccination requirements for education are concerned.”
30 percent of the responses from the survey say they opposed a vaccination mandate.
One anonymous student said, “The vaccines are not stopping the spread nearly as much as they wanted. Masks are working much better.”
Some students have stated that the vaccine is a violation of their bodily autonomy. One student said, “While I believe that the vaccination is safe, I am entirely against it being forced on people. I believe in human rights, and having the choice to put something into your own body, especially when there is so much controversy on the subject.”
Another student stated, “I believe in certain mandates but maybe not to the extent being done.”
The topic of masks was brought up again as one student submitted on the survey, “If someone chooses not to get vaccinated, just continue to wear a mask.”
One student did bring up the fear of the falsification of their vaccination status. They replied to the survey stating, “I would be the most worried about students lying about their vaccination status.” An anonymous student said, “Another concern that would come up in this context is students lying about their vaccination status and putting other students at risk by doing that.”
Multiple students on both sides have agreed that anyone who is allergic or has a religious exemption should not be required to be vaccinated. One said, “I think everyone who can get the vaccine should get vaccinated.”
The general consensus of the Elizabethtown community is to get back to a state of normalcy of pre-COVID-19.
