Note to colleges: please require COVID vaccines next fall
Imagine you’re a student in Duke University’s Class of 2022, like me. Your sophomore year was cut short by the pandemic. You weren’t welcomed on campus last fall because the university needed to de-densify and prioritized underclassmen. You watched as the Class of 2021 lost out on traditions like campus-wide concerts and Duke basketball games in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
You probably would give almost anything to have a near-normal senior year.
The pandemic stole valuable opportunities from college students across the country. Now with COVID-19 vaccines widely available, colleges can give the Class of 2022 the gift of a normal(ish) senior year. Duke and other universities made the right choice by requiring all in-person students to be vaccinated before returning to campus next fall. Other U.S. schools, private and public alike, should also grant their Class of 2022 students a last year of college memories.
Rutgers University was the first major U.S. university to announce it would mandate all in-person students to be fully vaccinated before the start of classes. Since Rutgers’ announcement, Duke joined a growing number of private colleges in requiring students to take the vaccine if they want to return to campus, including Cornell, Brown, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Northeastern University and The University of Notre Dame.
Several public institutions have since added the requirement, and at least 216 colleges have now announced plans to require COVID-19 vaccinations for on-campus students, according to The Chronicle for Higher Education’s tracker. Most say they could make exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
The pandemic has been particularly hard for college-age Americans. Nearly 75% of those age 18 to 24 report poorer mental health due to the pandemic, the CDC reported last fall. And in a new study of more than 2,500 students from seven public universities in the U.S., nearly 85% of respondents reported high or moderate levels of distress.
These trends hold true at Duke, too. A November survey in the Duke Chronicle reported that almost 50% of Duke students rated social isolation as “very” or “extremely” stressful. First-year Blue Devils, many of whom come to Duke knowing few or no other students, felt especially isolated.
Once fully vaccinated, students can again safely gather indoors without masks or social distancing. A fully vaccinated student population also allows for the return of large gatherings such as football games, parties and lectures. By requiring vaccines, schools can also ease students’ suffering due to the very real problems of loneliness and isolation.
As NPR notes, college vaccine mandates aren’t new. A recent study found that out of 96 four-year U.S. colleges, nearly all required at least one vaccine. Another 87.5% of those schools required that students have the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
While administrators might worry about the legality of mandating vaccines that have only received emergency use authorization approval, vaccine law experts suggest that lawsuits against such measures would likely fail.
A recent federal lawsuit did challenge an employer’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate on the basis of the emergency use authorization status. However, the lawsuit failed when the trial judge ruled the plaintiff, who was not fired, had not demonstrated “immediate or irreparable injury.” If students won’t get vaccinated, the university can politely tell them they’re not welcome on campus and offer the option of taking classes remotely or deferring in-person enrollment to a future semester.
Duke set a bold example by requiring COVID-19 vaccines of its students. It’s time for other U.S. schools to do the same. After the year we’ve had, current college students deserve as close to a normal school year as possible. Require the vaccines. Keep us safe.
Maya Miller is a rising senior at Duke University who is majoring in public policy.
