Are Schoolwide Vaccine Mandates Inevitable?

Initial doses of the Covid-19 vaccines being administered by students of UNC’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy last December. Source: UNC

At the beginning of a new school year, the question of “What did you do this summer?” has been replaced with “Did you get Pfizer or Moderna?” Gradually, vaccine mandates have been put into place at several companies and facilities. As the FDA has fully approved the Pfizer vaccine, more workers are now required to get the vaccine in order to keep their jobs. Universities encompass a “gray-area” of sorts regarding a vaccine mandate. Some universities have a staunch vaccine requirement, others strongly encourage but do not mandate it, while some have not even issued statements regarding the vaccine. There is only one public high school that is mandating a vaccine for students — and only for its athletes — but many are requiring their employees to do so. As students begin to return to campus and classrooms, will vaccines prove to be the only true safeguard against a deadly virus? Are school vaccinations inevitable?

Since late August — the beginning of the school year for many people across the country — Covid cases and deaths have spiked due to various factors: recalling mask mandates, the Delta variant, and the crowds. Arizona has banned mask mandates in schools, yet 2 out of every 3 parents support a school mask mandate. Many classrooms do not properly socially distance or require regular testing. Unfortunately for many public school students, masks may be the only way to combat the virus: only the Pfizer vaccine is available to those 12 years of age and older. By mandating vaccinations — for both eligible students and employees — the spread of the coronavirus will likely go down in schools. 

There has been debate on if vaccine mandates — especially in schools — are legal. Many vaccine skeptics are calling the vaccine mandate ‘illegal’ and that of ‘a medical tyranny.’ Yet, the United States has a strong history of legal and safe vaccinations. The first vaccine mandate in the U.S. was implemented in 1809 for smallpox. A century later, it was taken to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled that people do not have the right to put others at risk, calling the mandate settled law. Vaccine mandates are not a new concept; locally, UNC-Chapel Hill has required its students to get several vaccines before studying through the university. 

Yet, UNC-Chapel Hill is one of those “gray-area” universities —  it strongly encourages students and faculty to get vaccinated and exempts them from weekly testing. Yet ultimately, one of the largest public universities in the country did not require a Covid vaccine before returning to campus. UNC claims that 91 percent of its students have been vaccinated, yet there have been reports of fabricated vaccination cards. The university requires no solid proof of vaccination status other than a scan of one’s vaccination card. UNC’s neighboring and rival university, Duke, has recently tightened its Covid restrictions and now requires both students and faculty to be fully vaccinated. 

Overall, school vaccine mandates are legal and have allowed for a safe and comfortable learning environment. Due to the rising number of Covid cases, it seems that a vaccine mandate in schools may soon be inevitable, just like in certain workplaces. Ultimately, until vaccines become safely available and accessible to those of every age, students must follow CDC guidelines and the like both before and after they get vaccinated.