College and the COVID-19 Vaccine

As we all can agree, the Corona Virus has had quite an impact on everyday learning and education, especially on college campuses throughout the world. Students and professors had to adjust to their new, covid safe classrooms: zoom, Webex, and Microsoft teams. These online learning applications have been a big part of the education field since March of 2020. Although the pandemic has been so detrimental, people are hopeful that with the continuous distribution of vaccines, we can soon get back to our in-person learning environments. Therefore, Rutgers University has required that all students must receive both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine prior to the Fall 2021 semester, hoping this can start the progress back to normalcy. Brian Strom, the chancellor of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences and executive vice president of health affairs states, “Vaccination is key to stopping the current pandemic and to the return of campus instruction and activities closer to what we were accustomed to before the pandemic drastically changed life at Rutgers”. However, vaccinations can be a controversial topic. Some individuals believe they have a right not to vaccinate themselves or their children due to their own beliefs or political views. Although every American citizen has a right to believe whatever they choose, this pandemic has been one of the hardest and shocking times in recent history, and no political or personal view should jeopardize the end of it. I think every American should be required to receive the vaccine, especially if they want to attend school or study on a college campus. Going off of that, St. John’s should require their students to do the same by the fall semester, as Queens is a highly populated, urban area with thousands of resident, international, and commuter students. Our education has been weakened due to online learning and we need to get back into the classrooms with face-to-face instruction. Therefore, St. John’s, and every other university and institution, should follow Rutger’s lead and make the vaccine a university requirement.