Opinion: Penn State must require proof of vaccination to return to normal, protect community

Penn State has ramped up its efforts to persuade students, staff, and faculty to be vaccinated. Its communications are amplifying the message, as one press conference after another features administrators, student-athletes, and public officials in a chorus to all that they “vaccinate for State.”

To date, though, the University’s has refused to require proof of vaccination in the upcoming term, a move some seem to think goes too far. We would like to make some observations about this question for whoever must make this decision for the university.

There’s not much doubt that a college or university can legally require proof of vaccination. Indeed, Penn State already requires its students to show proof of vaccination against measles, mumps, and rubella, and for students in university housing, against meningococcal infections as well.

University Business magazine and the Chronicle of Higher Education have been tracking the hundreds of colleges and universities requiring proof of vaccination this upcoming fall. The lists of institutions are long for California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York — and Pennsylvania. Schools on the list include Penn State’s Big Ten counterparts Michigan and Rutgers.

Missing, however, are institutions from Texas, Florida and some other states where state legislators have moved to forbid “vaccine passports.”

It’s unfortunate how vaccination has been politicized. Medical decisions should not be about picking sides in a political fight. But with vaccine misinformation spreading and vaccination rates slowing, requiring proof of vaccination has become the only means by which any of us can be confident that community spread has been neutralized.

As graduation weekend reminded us, people routinely join us from far and wide, bringing their virus exposure with them. Only a requirement that university faculty, staff, and students prove they have been vaccinated can end the pandemic versions of classes, co-habitation, and everything else that have come to define our community. Delaying this step to avoid ruffling feathers will force individuals to protect themselves from unknown levels of virus in the community indefinitely, with costs for all.

The faculty of Penn State Law last week voted unanimously to urge university leaders to require vaccinations. We hope others will join us in communicating that to the university’s leaders.