LANCASTER, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Departments of Health and Education are encouraging all college students to get vaccinated this semester, before they head home for summer break.
“College students are going to be leaving now and going back to their communities, and so we want to make sure that they have their protection before they go out and start interacting with other folks,” said Acting Pennsylvania Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson.
Many college students support vaccinations and want to get vaccinated themselves. Some think colleges and universities should go further by requiring vaccination to attend classes in the fall.
“Personally I don't want to ever do a semester like this again,” said Sarah Miller, a sophomore at Franklin & Marshall College. “I want to have a normal college experience and doing that means as many people get vaccines as they can.”
“It should be required for those people who are able to get one,” said F&M junior Jihang Dai.
“I think it should be required unless you have a specific health reason why you can't get the vaccine,” said F&M senior Dina Spyropoulos. “I think it's really, really important for everyone to be vaccinated.
Universities such as Brown, Cornell and Rutgers have already mandated vaccination to attend next fall.
Most, however, are still weighing whether they should do the same—or if they legally can.
Legal scholars say colleges have a precedent because of their long history requiring other vaccinations, such as rubella, meningitis and chickenpox.
“Colleges and universities are probably on strong legal footing if they are going to require vaccines for incoming students this fall,” said Medha Makhlouf, assistant professor of law at Penn State Dickinson Law.
The vaccine’s emergency use status could differentiate the COVID-19 vaccines from previous fully-approved vaccines. Nonetheless that argument might not hold, Makhlouf said, as many colleges already require students to take periodic coronavirus tests that have been approved under the same FDA emergency authorization as the vaccines.
Many colleges are taking a cautious approach to avoid litigation or challenges from the student body.
Of the 10 Southcentral Pennsylvania colleges recently contacted by FOX43, none have yet required students get vaccinated.
“They don't want to deter certain students from coming to campus so it's in their interests in some ways to strongly recommend vaccination and to have members of the community voluntarily comply rather than mandate it,” Makhlouf said.
All students age 16 and older are now eligible to get the vaccine in Pennsylvania.
Whether it’s required or not, many have already scheduled or attended their vaccination appointments.