Dr. Joanne Willey predicts vaccines will be available for healthy, non-essential working college students by June 2021. // Photo courtesy of American Association of Nurse Practitioners.
Over 51 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been distributed across the United States so far, and that number is going up every day. As vaccines become more widely available, the question of whether or not Hofstra University will mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for its students remains unknown.
Because the vaccine is not available for everyone yet, if it is eventually required, it will not be any time soon. “The vaccines that are available have been granted an emergency use authorization, which is different from being FDA approved,” said Dr. Joanne Willey, professor of biomedical science and department chair of science education at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra and Northwell Health. “No one can mandate any vaccine, drug or treatment that is granted emergency authorization, so Hofstra cannot mandate it until then. Fortunately, at the rate the vaccines are being distributed and the amount of data being collected, the vaccine will be FDA approved sooner rather than later.”
Though this is promising information, Willey does not see the approval happening before September, which would mean there can be no vaccination mandate for the Fall 2021 semester. However, she predicts vaccines will be available for healthy, non-essential working college students around June of 2021. Many Hofstra students are looking forward to being vaccinated as soon as possible, and some have already been able to be vaccinated.
“I was able to be vaccinated because I am a first responder,” said Diana Onorato, a junior exercise science major. “It was a very smooth process, and I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with any side effects.” Others have not had quite the same results from the vaccine, but still report eventually feeling completely fine.
“The first shot was just like the flu shot,” said Justin Cabot-Miller, a Hofstra graduate who double majored in mathematics and computer science. Cabot-Miller’s 2020 graduation ceremony was cancelled due to COVID-19. “The second shot was worse though; I had a small fever until the next day and had some tremors that started several hours after being vaccinated and lasted a few hours.”
However, Cabot-Miller still recommends being vaccinated as soon as possible. “Remember that science works, there are those [still] alive that remember polio and its gradual decline, thanks in no small part to vaccines. Don’t trust me, trust the science, and trust the fact that the sooner you get vaccinated, the sooner we regain some semblance of normalcy.”
The university currently requires students to show proof of immunity to measles, mumps and rubella. Willey thinks that the COVID-19 vaccine will also eventually end up as a requirement to attend Hofstra.
“It would make no sense not to,” Willey said. “Many airlines, employers and schools will require vaccinations. Some hospitals already do. Because of the seriousness of the situation … it would make no sense not to mandate the vaccine in high density environments.”
Some people are wary of the new vaccine and are concerned with the speed at which the vaccine was produced, but Willey was able to quickly debunk that theory.
“This vaccine began development after the 2002 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic began,” Willey said. “The genome sequences of SARS and COVID-19 are very similar, so when COVID-19 hit, the vaccine had already gone through testing for a similar virus, which means it had a huge head start. The idea that the vaccine was created too quickly is an understandable misunderstanding.”
Brianna Donnelly, a sophomore pre-medical student, believes that mandating the vaccine is necessary for life at Hofstra to return to normal.
Over 51 million Americans have been vaccinated, and by the end of July, President Joe Biden said the United States will have enough coronavirus vaccines for 300 million Americans. // Photo courtesy of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think the COVID-19 vaccine should eventually be required on campus, because we all want things to go back to normal, and the only way that can happen at Hofstra is if we have herd immunity on campus,” Donnelly said. “Vaccines are necessary to get back to the college experience we all wanted.”
“Vaccines ought to be required on campus,” Cabot-Miller said. “You can’t drive drunk because you’re unnecessarily putting others at risk, why should you be allowed to be unvaccinated and [put others at risk]? It’s not just about the individual getting vaccinated, but everyone they interact with.”
Though the vaccine is not estimated to be widely available until June or July, Willey urges students to remain patient and be a “vaccine ambassador,” advocating for the vaccine in the meantime.
“COVID-19 has forced us all to recon with the fact that sometimes it’s not the brave, larger-than-life actions of a hero that can save us, but the collective action,” Cabot-Miller said. “To do something small, wear a mask and spare a minute to get vaccinated.”