Can Colleges Make the COVID-19 Vaccine Mandatory?

The Development of the COVID-19 Vaccines

Once the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality, scientists, politicians, and public health officials scrambled for solutions. The disease was an existential threat to both individual and economic health, so the pressure to develop a vaccine was immense. Politicians were eager to have a vaccine as soon as possible, which posed an enormous challenge for scientists and the existing paths toward vaccine acceptance.

Thankfully, there was precedent for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. After all, it is a coronavirus, which was already familiar to scientists. In fact, the so-called common cold is a variety of coronavirus. However, the new variant posed unique challenges. Some researchers decided that they needed a way to tell the body how to recognize and respond to the virus' spike proteins, a new adaptation that allowed this novel virus to be more contagious than some previous coronaviruses . Normally they might produce mass quantities of the proteins and use them in the vaccination shots. Unfortunately, that would take entirely too long. Not only were people dying in huge numbers, but there were political and other forces urging for a fast solution.

Rather than attempt to produce the spike proteins on the scale needed, researchers decided to teach the body to recognize the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein using mRNA instructions, a new technique. Essentially, they tricked the body into creating the spike protein which would then trigger the immune system to fight it. This ingenious solution enabled pharmaceutical companies to bring the vaccinations up to scale and then roll them out for people all over the world in record time.

What This Means for Those Attending College

College students across the nation are at a collective crossroads, it seems. Some colleges and universities are mandating vaccination as a condition of enrollment, while others are not. Some state governments have gone so far as to forbid their publicly funded institutions of higher learning from mandating the public health measures.

Since the situation is still relatively new, there are many possible outcomes. Students on either side of the vaccine debate could bring lawsuits that challenge vaccination rules. Generally speaking, most of the legal challenges have come from those who refuse to take the vaccine. Their arguments usually rest on grounds that range from religious belief to quasi-scientific reasoning. Colleges and other institutions that do not mandate COVID-19 vaccines may someday find that so-called long COVID sufferers also have legal grounds to bring a suit if they feel that they were not protected by their educational institution. This is because those who have recovered from the disease sometimes have intense immune responses when exposed to the virus. They can incur symptoms that include organ damage, kidney stones, and long-COVID. If they were in an environment that mandated vaccines, they would not be at such high risk for these injuries. This may give more educational institutions pause as they consider the future outcomes of their students.

Essentially, COVID-19 is far from a settled issue. Since the disease and its treatment has been turned into a political football, state rules and mandates could change from election cycle to election cycle. There could be new court cases that overturn rules or strengthen them. Meanwhile, college students are in the middle, doing their best to receive an education that can help them succeed in life.

Thus, college students are urged to not only take a close and honest look at the vaccine issue, but to investigate the policies at their school. Prospective students in particular should include COVID-19 policies as part of their research into which school to attend, along with other factors such as accreditation. Not only should a college or university provide the degree programs they desire, but they should also be comfortable with the varying degrees of risk posed by the institution's vaccine policies.